Another Woman
by Piper Elizabeth
Summary: Reela story. Ray and Neela are happily in a relationship together, but must overcome some problems when an exgirlfriend of Ray’s shows up.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **Another Woman

**Rating:** I'm going to go with M for some language and, although there's nothing graphic, insinuations of sex.

**Disclaimer:** Unfortunately, ER and its affiliated characters do not belong to me. They are the property of NBC and its associates. No copyright intended.

**Spoilers:** There's no specific episode that I discuss in this story, but I do mention important happenings from season 13 (including Michael/Gates/Katey, etc.)

**Note:** I actually got the basic idea (and title) for this story from an episode of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman called "Another Woman." I also borrowed the character's first name "Catherine" from the show, as well. So, thank you to Dr. Quinn for inspiring me yet again.

**Summary: **Reela story. Ray and Neela are happily in a relationship together, but must overcome some problems when an ex-girlfriend of Ray's shows up.

**Chapter 1**

"I need the portable X-Ray!" Someone yelled in the hallway.

Neela lazily opened her eyes as the sounds of shouting and people running down the hallway woke her up. She moaned and rolled over onto her stomach, burying her head in a small, flat pillow. The gurney squeaked beneath her as she shifted. She hated sleeping in one of the empty exam rooms, but she had been working for almost twenty hours straight and she needed the rest, especially after her sleepless night the night before.

She debated on whether she should get up and see if she could be of any help, but she knew that someone would wake her if she was really needed.

Closing her eyes again, Neela repositioned herself to get more comfortable. She was almost asleep when the door opened.

"What is it?" She mumbled, not bothering to see who it was.

She could hear the door close and the sound of someone's footsteps as they got closer to her. She smiled as she felt the side of the gurney sink as the person sat down beside her. She felt his hand on her back and he began to massage her sore muscles.

"Open your eyes," he whispered.

"Why?" She replied, smiling.

"I have a surprise for you."

She opened her eyes and rolled onto her side towards him. He gently brushed her hair away from her forehead and kissed her lightly on the lips.

"What's my surprise?" She asked, noticing that he was holding one hand behind his back so that she couldn't see whatever it was that he was trying to hide.

"You mean I'm not enough?"

He leaned in to kiss her again, but she pulled away, smiling seductively.

"I want my surprise," she pouted. He pulled his hand out from behind his back and presented her with a styrofoam cup. "Coffee?" She asked, somewhat disappointed even though she welcomed the caffeine.

"Well, I figured after working a double, you'd need the boost." He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. "Oh…and…" he pulled a single red rose out from behind his back. "Happy anniversary," he said as he handed the rose over to her. She twirled it in her fingers and smelled it.

"Anniversary?" She questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"You don't remember?" He asked in response. She shook her head. "Six months ago today…you made my life complete."

He leaned in and kissed her deeply.

----

6 Months Earlier

_Neela tried to shift the three paper bags full of groceries so that she could reach her keys in her pocket, but every time she moved, she could feel one of the bags slipping through her arms and she was determined not to drop them._

_"Ray!" She yelled, kicking the door. She could hear him strumming his guitar and knew that he probably couldn't hear her. "Ray!" She shouted more loudly. "Bloody hell," she mumbled. _

_Neela put the bags on the ground and dug her keys out of her pocket. She shoved the key in the door and turned the knob. Using her left foot to keep the door open, she stretched and grabbed the three bags of groceries. When she had successfully positioned them in her arms, she turned and took a step towards the kitchen. When she went to step again, she tripped on a pair of Ray's shoes and stumbled forward._

_In a flash, Neela dropped all but one bag of groceries and she fell against Ray, who had come out of his room to find out what all of the commotion was about. They both fell to the floor._

_"Welcome home," Ray said, smiling. Neela was lying on top of him. Her left hand still clutched the remaining bag of groceries and her right hand was against his chest. Their faces were so close together that their noses almost touched._

_"How many times do I have to ask you not to leave your shoes in the middle of the floor where someone might trip on them?" She growled, angrily._

_She knew that she should get off of him, but she didn't move. She liked feeling his body against hers._

_"You might need to ask me one more time," he replied._

_"You're infuriating."_

_"And you're crushing my windpipe."_

_Neela scrambled off of him and stood. She began to assess the damage of the groceries. The dozen eggs that she had bought were successfully smashed all over the floor and the carton of orange juice was spilling all over everything._

_"Great," she said, picking up the empty orange juice container off the floor._

_"Well, we've got a whole breakfast right here on our living room floor," Ray joked, standing up._

_"It's not funny," Neela commented, trying not to smile._

_"Oh come on, it's a little bit funny," he replied._

_"No, it's not," she argued._

_Ray took a step forward to pick up a squished load of bread, and slid on some of the spilled eggs. He found himself falling once more. As he hit the floor with a thud, Neela laughed out loud._

_"Now it's funny," she said, picking up the bags and walking into the kitchen._

-----

"If I recall," Neela said as Ray played with hair, "six months ago today your shoe nearly killed me."

"Yes, but do you remember what happened after that?"

At first, Neela shook her head, but then she remembered.

"Our first kiss," she answered.

"Out first kiss," he repeated.

-----

6 Months Earlier

_Neela was sitting on her bed, reading a medical journal about new heart transplant procedures. Now that she worked in surgery, she always tried to keep herself updated on the latest procedures and surgical techniques._

_Neela heard Ray rummaging around for something in the kitchen and she couldn't help but smile. It amazed her how easily she and Ray had slid back into their old routine. She thought that it would be difficult living with him again, but after she had moved back in, everything went back to the way it had been and she hadn't even really bothered to start looking for another place like she said she would. She was perfectly content right where she was._

_As she turned the page, the smell of something cooking filled her room. Intrigued, she set the magazine aside, hopped off of her bed, and walked into the kitchen. Ray was standing at the stove with a spatula in hand._

_"What are you making?" She asked._

_"Omelets," he answered._

_"It's three o'clock in the afternoon," Neela remarked, sitting down at the kitchen table._

_"Yeah, well, I've been craving breakfast since it was spilled on our floor this morning."_

_"Please tell me that those are not the same eggs that…"_

_"Haven't you Brits ever heard of the five second rule?"_

_"That's disgusting," Neela scoffed. She nearly gagged just thinking about eating eggs that had been smashed on the floor._

_Ray smirked. He enjoyed grossing her out._

_"I just picked up some more eggs when I went to the store," he explained._

_"In that case, I'll have mine with cheese and pepper."_

_"And who said I'd be making you one?"_

_"Please," she pouted, sticking out her bottom lip._

_"You know, you're cute when you beg," Ray said. _

_He immediately turned back to the omelet as Neela blushed. He had never called her cute before._

"_Does that mean you'll make me one?" She asked, surprised at her own boldness. She was flirting with him._

"_I'll tell you what," Ray said, flirting right back. "We can share."_

_Neela smiled and grabbed two forks and two glasses and put them on the small table. As she poured some milk into each of the glasses, Ray scraped the omelet off the bottom of the pan and placed it on a large plate. He set it down in the middle of the table and then sat across from Neela. He picked up his orange juice and held it out._

"_To being roomies…again," he toasted._

_Neela lifted her glass in the air._

"_To being roomies," she repeated._

_They each took a drink and then began to eat the large omelet._

"_I'm glad that you came back," Ray commented._

"_I am too," she replied. _

_They each dug their forks into the omelet. _

"_I have a confession to make," Neela stated, wiping her mouth with a napkin._

"_Oh? What's that?" Ray asked, going for another piece of the omelet._

"_I haven't exactly been looking for my own apartment," she admitted._

_For a moment, he didn't respond and Neela wondered what he was thinking. She had told him that she was only moving in temporarily, but that wasn't exactly what she was planning anymore._

"_Well, that's good because I don't want you to leave."_

_Ray reached across the table and squeezed her hand. They stared into each other's eyes, unable to break their gaze. Ray slowly began to lean over the table._

_Their lips barely made contact and the kiss only lasted for a few seconds, but it still felt incredible. Neither of them had ever known a first kiss to feel so amazing. _

_Ray began to pull away, not sure of what he should do. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt so awkward and unsure of himself around a woman._

_It was Neela who reached for him and pulled him closer to her. They kissed again, this time more substantial and long-lasting._

"_So…what does this mean?" Neela asked._

"_I think this means that we're not just roommates anymore," Ray answered, closing the gap between them once more._

-----

Neela buried her hands deep in Ray's hair as he laid down on top of her, kissing her. She giggled as he kissed the spot on her neck that always made her giggle.

The door swung open.

"Neela, there's a…" Sam started to say. "Oh…" She averted her eyes away from Ray and Neela. "Sorry to interrupt, but there's a trauma coming in," she announced. "Ten minutes out."

"I'll be right there," Neela said from beneath Ray.

Sam quickly closed the door. Ray kissed Neela on the forehead and laughed.

"Why does everyone have such bloody bad timing around here?" Neela asked.

Ray rolled off the bed and Neela sat up, adjusting her blouse. Ray ran his fingers through her hair to make it less noticeable that she had been lying down.

"I'll take the trauma," Ray stated.

"You're not on for another half hour," Neela pointed out.

"I know, but you should go home and get some sleep. Besides, we have a long night of celebrating ahead of us."

Neela smiled and blushed just thinking about what they would be doing that night.

"What time will you be home?" She asked, putting her arms around his waist.

"Seven," he answered.

"Then I look forward to seven," she said, kissing him.

Author's Note:

Just like I told myself for my last story that I would never write a story with Gates, I also always told myself that I would never do a story where Ray and Neela were already in a relationship because half the fun for me in writing stories is getting them to that relationship. So, I'm doing the best of both worlds in this story – they're already in an established relationship and I'll be doing flashbacks. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I promise that the chapters to come are going to be more dramatic/somewhat angsty. Please leave me comments/suggestions. Chapter 2 should be posted soon!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

After Ray had successfully sent Neela home to catch up on some sleep and the trauma patient that Sam had announced had successfully been saved and brought to surgery, Ray was walking to curtain two to start working on another patient.

"So, you and Neela are ah…doing well, huh?" Sam asked as Ray passed her.

Ray stopped. "Yeah, we're doing alright."

"I know things were rough for you both…I'm really happy for you guys. We all are," Sam said.

"Thanks Sam," Ray responded, somewhat confused. It was nice that Sam had taken such an interest in him and Neela, but it was almost weird.

"Besides, I won the pot," Sam added.

"The pot?" Ray questioned, sensing something was up.

"Yeah, the nurses and I had a bet going on how long it would take you two to get together."

Ray smiled. Sam's interest in his and Neela's relationship began to make sense.

"And what was your guess?"

"Two years."

"And how'd you figure that out?"

"Well, I knew from the first time I saw you two together that destiny would take its course, but that you two would somehow manage to screw it up along the way."

Ray chuckled. "I've got a patient waiting."

"I'll see you later."

Sam walked away. Ever since he and Neela had become a couple, Ray had been told by several people that they knew it would happen. Apparently everyone had been rooting for them from the beginning and they just never knew it.

Still smiling, Ray reached curtain two and swept the beige curtain out of the way to expose the gurney behind it.

"Ray? Ray Barnett!" The patient squealed.

Ray immediately recognized who it was.

"Catherine?"

Ray stepped closer to the gurney and hugged her. She wrapped her left arm around him, but kept her right arm leaning on the pillow that had been provided for her.

"My gosh, it's been…what? Nine years?" Catherine asked.

"Yeah…I think the last time we saw each other was at David's birthday party."

"And if I recall, you had just been busted for breaking his mother's vase."

Ray smiled at the memory. "How have you been, Catherine?"

"Good except for this," she said, pointing to her right arm. Her wrist was swollen and bruised and had begun to turn blue and purple.

"What happened?" Ray asked, pulling on a pair of latex gloves.

"I slipped on the stairs outside of the courthouse," she explained.

Ray examined her wrist, being careful not to cause her too much pain when he touched it.

"Well, I'll order an X-Ray, but you definitely broke it. Courthouse, huh? What happened to being a botanist?"

"Plants don't exactly pay the bills so I went to law school."

"And now you're a big shot lawyer?"

"Now I work as an assistant to a big shot lawyer, but I'm working my way up. I started as just his coffee girl and now I at least get to sit in court. Well, I sit behind him, but at least I'm there. But what about you? I never really thought you'd make it through medical school."

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"Well, you were always more interested in playing your guitar and chasing women then you were in your studies."

"Yeah, well, priorities change."

"I can see that. Does this mean you're married now with a white picket fence and cable?"

They both laughed.

"A lot of things have changed, Catherine, but I'm still not the white picket fence kind of guy."

"Still hooking up with your groupies?"

"No, actually. I'm not in a band anymore. I quit."

"You quit?"

"I had to choose between playing in rat infested clubs at all hours of the night every weekend and being a doctor. I chose to play doctor."

"You must miss it."

"I do sometimes, but I'm happy, you know."

"Is there a girlfriend in the picture?"

"Yes, actually, Neela…we work together."

"A doctor, huh? You really have stepped up your game," Catherine remarked.

"Yeah, well, what about you? Any big lawyer boyfriend?"

"Not any more," she answered quietly.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. He was more in love with his Porsche than he was with me. He convinced me to come to Chicago with him and then…but it's okay. I get to start over again. Get a new job, find some new friends, and, apparently, an old one."

Ray smiled. "Well, let me order your X-Rays and I'll be back with the results."

"We should grab dinner...catch up on old times. How about tonight? That is, if I'm not stuck here all night."

"Well, I promise I'll get you out of here before the night is up, but I…ah…it's Neela's and my six month anniversary so we kind of already had plans."

"Ray Barnett remembering to celebrate an anniversary? You have changed. Alright then, tomorrow night and I won't take no for an answer."

"Tomorrow night it is," Ray agreed.

At the end of his shift, Ray stopped by a florists shop before heading home. As he opened the apartment door, he could hear romantic music playing and the entire apartment smelled like lavender. Ray quickly took off his jacket and threw it on the table beside the couch. Neela had placed the rose that he had given her in a small vase in the middle of the coffee table. Ray put down the flowers he had in his hand beside the vase.

Ray made his way to the back of the apartment where the music was coming from. He walked up to the bathroom and pushed the door open slowly.

"Happy anniversary," Neela said as she sipped a glass of red wine. She was sitting in a bathtub with bubbles up to her shoulders. Her hair was pinned up with bobby pins to keep it out of the warm water. The bathroom was lit solely with candles and there were rose petals sprinkled on the floor, the edge of the bathtub, and the pedestal sink.

"Happy anniversary," Ray replied, walking over to the edge of the tub. He bent down and kissed her.

"Care to join me?" Neela asked flirtatiously.

"Maybe."

"Maybe?"

"Yeah, well, you know, I kind of had plans and…"

Neela grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pulled it. He fell into the tub, splashing water and bubbles all over the place. They both laughed and kissed as Neela slid her hands under his sopping wet shirt.

After refilling the bath three separate times with warm water once the water had grown cold and more bubbles once the others had dissolved, Ray and Neela were still sitting in the bathtub. Neela sat on top of him, leaning her back against his chest, as he washed her back with a soap filled facecloth. He began to kiss the back of her neck.

"I think we should start celebrating weekly anniversaries," Neela stated, blushing after the passion they had just shared.

"Mm…I think that's a good idea," Ray agreed, brushing wet strands of her hair that had fallen out of the bobby pins away from her neck.

"You never told me how work was today," Neela said.

"Six traumas…they all made it."

"Show-off."

"And I ran into an old high school friend."

"Oh yeah? Who is he?"

"Her," Ray corrected, "name is Catherine. Her family moved next door to mine the summer before high school. We were great friends. We even played in the same band for a while."

"You mean, you let a girl into your band?" Neela asked, smiling. She knew that Ray enjoyed his time with the boys when he was in the band. She never even considered the fact that his band would consist of males and females.

"I'm not a sexist pig, you know," he joked. "She played bass. She was good, too."

"Why didn't you stay friends?"

"We went our separate ways after we graduated. She went to school across the country to be a botanist and I stayed close to home where I could afford it."

"What was she doing at the hospital?"

"She came in with a broken wrist. We're going out to dinner tomorrow night to catch up on old times. You should come to meet her."

"You sure I wouldn't be in the way?"

Ray began to kiss her shoulder blades.

"You're never in the way," he whispered.

He placed his hand on her cheek, turned her face towards his, and kissed her.

Author's Note:

I don't have much to say about this one – I wrote it pretty fast and I really just wanted to use this chapter to set up what's to come. This chapter did, however, bring up the problem that we don't know much about Ray's history (and, even what we do know, I couldn't remember much about Ray's history) so I've made it all up and I hope it all makes sense. Please comment!


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Neela and Ray sat beside each other at a restaurant near the hospital. They had both worked all day and were tired, but Ray was looking forward to catching up with Catherine and introducing her to Neela. Not having much of a family, Ray had never officially introduced Neela to anyone, and he was happy to finally have the chance. It was as if introducing her made their relationship more official.

Neela sipped her glass of champagne and began to wish that her and Ray hard at least ordered an appetizer while they waited for Catherine. Neela hadn't eaten since breakfast that morning and her stomach was growling.

"We can order something," Ray said, after hearing her stomach rumble.

"It's alright, we can wait," Neela assured him.

Ray squeezed her hand and looked around the restaurant, hoping that Catherine would get there soon. He, too, was hungry.

A few minutes later, he spotted Catherine coming in the front door.

"She's here," he said.

Ray stood up and waved so that Catherine would see him. Catherine rushed over to him and wrapped her good arm around his neck. They kissed each other on the cheek.

"It's so good to see you again," she gushed. "I'm sorry I'm late, I got on the wrong train and I ended up…well, I don't know where I ended up, but I'm here now."

"That's alright," Ray replied. "How's your wrist?"

"It's fine," she said holding it up. "It's a little painful, but I had a good doctor."

Neela looked Catherine over from head to toe. After Ray had told Neela about running into Catherine the day before, Neela had been thinking about what to expect of her. She certainly didn't expect the woman who stood before her. Catherine was drop dead gorgeous. She was tall, about two inches taller than Ray, and obviously took good care of her body. She had a flat stomach, womanly curves, and probably just as much arm muscle as Ray. Catherine had curly blonde hair that swept down past her mid-back. Her eyes were an almost unnatural, piercing, brilliant green and her smile contained perfectly straight, white teeth. Neela wondered if she was a model.

"We took the liberty of ordering a bottle of champagne," he continued.

"Sounds good," Catherine said, sitting down across from Neela.

Ray sat down beside Neela and poured Catherine a glass of the bubbly liquid.

"This is my girlfriend Neela Rasgotra. Neela, this is Catherine Taylor," Ray introduced.

"Oh, the doctor," Catherine said, shaking Neela's hand over the table. Catherine sat down across from them. "Ray didn't mention you would be coming. He also didn't mention how pretty you are."

Neela blushed, thinking that she couldn't even begin to compare to Catherine.

"Thank you," Neela said shyly.

"And you're British. Ray didn't mention that. I spent a semester studying in England. It's such a beautiful place."

"Yes, it is," Neela responded.

The waiter approached them and quickly took their orders.

"Do you remember, Ray, the summer after graduation we were going to backpack Europe?" Catherine asked after the waiter had left the table.

"I completely forgot about that," Ray replied, suddenly remembering the many nights they had spent up planning their trip and trying to figure out how they could afford it.

"We would have gone, too, if it weren't for my father demanding that I take that internship at the local greenhouse. I've always regretted not going. It might have changed things for us."

"So you two lived next door to each other?" Neela asked.

"Yeah, I moved in the summer between eighth and ninth grade. We hit it off right away." Neela took a sip of her champagne. "We were dating by the end of the summer."

Neela coughed and champagne dribbled down her chin. She quickly picked up her napkin and dabbed her chin.

"Ray didn't mention that you two dated," Neela commented.

"We dated for four years," Catherine explained. "The only reason we really broke up was because we went to different colleges."

Neela gulped down the rest of her champagne and poured herself another glass. She unconsciously shifted slightly away from Ray.

"So…ah…how long have you been living in Chicago?" Ray asked, trying to change the subject. He could sense that something was wrong with Neela.

"The last four months. I moved out here with my boyfriend, but, things didn't work out so now I'm on my own, but the single life is a lonely one." Neela swore that she saw her wink at Ray. "So, what's the story with you two?" Charlotte questioned, tossing her hair back behind her ear. Neela chugged down more than half of her glass in one long sip.

"We met at the hospital," Ray answered.

"Was it love at first sight?" Catherine asked. She twirled the straw from her water in her mouth flirtatiously.

"We were roommates actually for a while," Ray explained as he tried to think about how to tell his and Neela's complicated story.

"And then I got married, became a widow, Ray and I both shacked up with other people for a while, and then we ended up roommates again," Neela stated angrily, drinking the rest of her champagne.

"Oh," Catherine muttered, not knowing what to say.

"Where's the bloody waiter? I'm starving," Neela grumbled.

After two hours of awkward conversation and too many glasses of champagne for Neela, Ray stood in the bathroom of their apartment, brushing his teeth. He and Neela hadn't spoken since they left the restaurant.

When Ray rinsed the toothpaste from his mouth and wiped his face with a hand towel, he walked to his bedroom. Neela was already lying in bed with the sheet and blanket drawn up to her chin and her eyes closed.

Ray pulled off his T-Shirt and climbed into bed. He attempted to kiss her on the cheek, but she turned away from him.

"Do we need to talk about this?" He asked.

"Talk about what?" She retorted with her eyes still closed.

"Neela…"

"I'm exhausted, Ray, and I have a six AM shift tomorrow so…," she answered coldly.

Ray got out of bed and turned on the light.

"We need to talk about this." Ray crossed his arms over his chest and stood at the end of the bed. "Damn it, Neela, what is it? What don't you like about her?"

"It's not her, Ray!" Neela shouted, sitting up. She hugged her knees against her chest, closing herself off from him. She tried not to let Catherine bother her, but she couldn't help it. "It's you…it's the two of you together."

"What are you talking about?"

"When you told me about Catherine in the tub, you conveniently left out the fact that you two dated for four years."

"It was a high school relationship," Ray defended himself.

"For four years! She wasn't just some crush, Ray."

"I don't ask you about your past relationships."

"And I don't make you go out to dinner with my ex's after forgetting to mention that they were my ex at all! What would have happened if you hadn't gone to different colleges?"

"What?"

"Would you and Catherine still be together if you hadn't gone to different colleges?"

"Jesus, Neela, I don't know."

"Wrong answer!" Neela yelled, getting out of bed. Ray grabbed her arm as she brushed by her. "Let go of me! I'm sleeping in my own room tonight."

Neela hadn't spent a night in her own room since the night of their first kiss. Ray didn't let go of her.

"Damn it, Neela, yes, we dated. Yes, she was my first real relationship and yes, I did love her and no, I don't know what would have happened if we hadn't gone to different colleges, but it doesn't matter." He pulled her closer to him. She wouldn't look him in the eye. "All that matters is that she was then and you are now and you are all that I want. I love you."

Neela looked up at him and a tear rolled down her cheek. It amazed her how those three simple words from his lips could melt her.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. She hugged him. "I was tired and…had a little bit too much to drink…and I was jealous as hell."

He smiled.

"Apology accepted," Ray said. "And I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about Catherine and I. When I'm with you, Neela, it's like no one else exists."

"How is it that you always know exactly what to say?" She asked, brushing her lips against his.

"I'm just good like that," Ray replied, kissing her deeply. "And, by the way, you're cute when you're jealous."

Neela laughed as they fell onto the bed together.

Author's Note:

Again, I don't have much to say. This was a pretty easy one to write, especially the ending. Let me know what you think!


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Ray wiped a patient's name off the drop down dry erase board that kept everyone informed as to what patients were being seen and which patients needed to be seen. Ray pushed the board back up and grabbed another patient's chart.

"You working on turbo speed or something today? What is that? Your sixth patient today?" Pratt asked, holding the phone against his face and shoulder. He had been on hold with family services for nearly fifteen minutes.

"Seventh, but who's counting," Ray replied.

Ray was definitely counting, but he wasn't counting patients. He was counting minutes until he got to go home and see Neela. Ever since they had started dating, they began working completely opposite schedules. Every once and a while they would find themselves working the same shift but, more often than not, Neela would work in the mornings and Ray in the evenings. As it was, they had briefly seen each other in the morning as Neela scrambled out of bed at 5 AM. Ray had woken up in time to give her a kiss on the cheek before she bolted out the door. They saw each other again on the train platform when Neela was leaving work a little after four and Ray was heading to work for 5 PM. They barely had time to say hello to each other before they both headed off in opposite directons.

Ray had only been working for four hours, and was on for another four, but he already missed her.

"There was someone here looking for your earlier," Pratt said as he began to read a patient's chart. Even though he was still on hold, everyone at the ER knew that one of the most important skills to have as a doctor was the ability to multitask, and Pratt was a pro at it.

"Oh yeah? Who?"

"Tall, blonde, hot as hell," Pratt stated.

"You must mean Catherine," Ray said.

"Yeah, well, I didn't catch her name." Pratt hung up the phone, deciding that he would call back later. He took a step closer to Ray. "Look, man, is something going on?"

"What do you mean?"

"Between you and Neela. Is everything going alright?"

"Everything's fine," Ray answered, not understanding why Pratt was suddenly so concerned with his and Neela's relationship. Pratt had always felt protective over Neela, especially after Michael died. Being Michael's best friend, Pratt felt like he owed it to him.

"Alright, but if you hurt her…"

"Hurt Neela? Pratt, what are you…" It finally dawned on him what Pratt meant. "Catherine? We're just old friends, man."

"So there's nothing going on between you?"

"No," Ray answered adamantly.

"Does that mean I can have her number?"

Ray smiled. "She's too good for you," he said.

"Oh, I don't know about that," a familiar, female voice stated.

Ray turned around. Catherine was standing right behind him.

"Hey," Ray said, surprised.

"Hey yourself," Catherine responded. "Dr. Pratt here has been very kind to me. He even offered to buy me a cup of coffee."

"And the offer still stands," Pratt added.

Ray ignored him. "Catherine, are you alright? Is it your hand?"

"No, I'm fine," she answered, "my hand's fine. I just…I need to talk to you about something."

"Alright, we can…ah…talk in the lounge."

"It was nice meeting you Dr. Pratt," Catherine said as she followed Ray.

"The pleasure was all mine," Pratt replied.

"He's cute," Catherine commented as she and Ray walked into the lounge. They both sat down at the small table in the center of the lounge.

"What's going on, Catherine?" Ray questioned.

She sighed. "Look, this is kind of…embarrassing, but I'm having a hard time making ends meet. You know, I came out here with Joe and I didn't really have to worry about money, but now I'm on my own and being a lawyer's assistant, even a big shot lawyer's assistant, doesn't pay too well and…"

"You need a loan?"

"No, God no. I don't like mixing friendship and money, it gets too complicated. What I do need is a new apartment. Mine's just so disgustingly expensive. I was wondering, since you've been here a lot longer than I have and you must know more people and stuff, if you knew of any cheap places to live or someone who was looking for a roommate. I mean, I'm out of work for three weeks because of my hand, but after I go back, I'd hardly ever even be in the apartment and it would just be for a little while until I can save up some money and find something else."

"You want me to help you find an apartment?"

"Is that too much to ask?" She asked, not angrily, but sweetly.

"No, of course not. But I think I already have somewhere in mind."

"I knew you could help. Where is it?"

"My place."

"Your place?"

"Well, Neela's and my place."

"You want me to move in with you and your girlfriend?"

"We've got the extra room and we work so much that half the time, it's just empty."

"And what do you think Neela would have to say about this? She doesn't seem to like me much."

"It wasn't you. She was just…tired. We both worked pretty long shifts yesterday."

"And you're sure she wouldn't mind?"

"Well, I can discuss with her tonight and let you know tomorrow, but I'm sure she won't care."

"Ray, you are a lifesaver!" She yelled, embracing him in a hug.

"No," Neela stated. She picked up the television remote and turned the TV off of mute. The poker announcer's voice boomed through the speakers.

"You didn't even let me explain," Ray replied, standing right in front of the television, blocking his view.

"You don't need to explain," Neela said, "I will not live with your ex-girlfriend."

"It's just temporary. She just needs some help until she can save up some more money and then she'll be gone."

"And where is she going to sleep?"

"Your room."

"My room?"

"Oh come on, you never sleep there anymore."

"But my stuff is still there."

"Well, I was thinking," he said, sitting on the coffee table in front of her, "that we should move your stuff into my room."

"If we did that, we wouldn't be able to walk."

"We could rearrange some things. You know, make it our room, instead of my room."

"You'd move some of your rock and roll junk out of the way for me?"

Ray reached for her hands and held them.

"First of all, it's not junk, but second of all, yes, I would move some of my rock and roll…stuff for you. Besides, isn't that what people do when they move in together? They cohabitate in the same space with a mixture of all of their things?"

"You think you can talk your way into anything, don't you?"

"Hey, it got you to move in with me for the second time, didn't it?"

-----

9 Months, 4 Days Earlier

_Ray picked up the cool glass of beer and brought it to his lips. He took a long drink and looked at his surroundings. The bar was busy with couples chatting, friends laughing together, and people drinking, but Ray was all alone. After a long day at work, he needed a drink and he was tired of being alone in his apartment._

"_Is this seat taken?" A woman asked. _

"_I'm sorry, I'm not much in the mood for company," Ray answered without turning around. She wasn't the first woman who had tried to pick him up that evening._

"_I know the feeling."_

_She sat anyway and Ray finally turned to look at her. He smiled when he saw that it was Neela._

"_I didn't recognize your voice," he said._

"_I figured you wouldn't without the accent," she replied, speaking without her British accent at all._

"_You're getting better," he complimented. It had always been a joke between them that Ray try to teach Neela how to speak 'American,' as he called it and she try to teach him how to speak with a British accent. She was always better at it than he was._

"_Thanks," she said, speaking with her British accent once more._

_She ordered a drink from the bartender as Ray slowly sipped his own._

"_So, how are you?" He asked, trying to break the uncomfortable silence that was between them. It had been a long time since they had sat down and talked together. After Neela had moved out, they barely spoke and things only got work when she started dating Gates and he started dating Katey._

"_I'm doing well," she answered. She paused and took a deep breath. She knew that she would have to tell him and that she wanted to tell him. "Tony and I broke up last week."_

_Ray was surprised, not at the news, but at the fact that she told him so outwardly. He had learned from the rumor mill of the ER that they had broken up, but she had never told him to his face. Now that he heard it straight from her, he couldn't help but feel somewhat elated._

"_Are you okay?"_

"_Yeah, I am," Neela stated. _

_The bartender put her drink down in front of her. She immediately took a drink, trying to calm her nerves. Talking with Ray had always come easily to her, sometimes too easy, but she was suddenly nervous and somewhat afraid. _

"_We just weren't meant for each other. Whether or not he wants to admit it, he has a family and that's where he belongs. I'm actually…happier now. It's like there's so much less pressure…so much less to worry about," she explained, taking another sip of her drink. "How are you doing? How's everything going with Katey?"_

"_We…ah…called it quits a few weeks ago," Ray answered._

"_Oh?" She, too, felt elated and her heart began to flutter. She berated herself for being happy over his breakup._

"_We just weren't meant for each other," he responded, mimicking what Neela had said._

"_Well, here's to being single," Neela said, holding her glass up. Ray picked up his own glass and tapped it against hers. They each took a drink._

"_I've missed this," Ray commented._

"_Missed what?"_

"_This. Us…just shooting the breeze…hanging out together."_

"_So have I," Neela admitted. "I know things have been…awkward between us…"_

"_But they don't have to be," Ray interrupted._

"_No, they don't."_

_A few hours later, both Neela and Ray had consumed just enough alcohol that they were laughing at things that weren't really funny, but they weren't quite drunk. They had spent the last few hours talking, catching up on what was going on in both their lives, reminiscing about the good times they had when they lived together, and even talking briefly about their relationships with Gates and Katey. They fell back into their friendly, familiar routine quickly._

_Neela looked down at her watch. It took her a few seconds to focus her eyes on the small numbers in the dimly lit bar, but she soon read that it was almost midnight._

"_I should go," she said. "I've got a shift in the morning."_

"_Yeah, me too," Ray replied._

"_I'm glad we did this," Neela remarked. _

_She began to dig through her purse for her wallet. Ray reached for his wallet out of his back pocket and put down the money to cover both their drinks._

"_I got it," he said._

"_No…I…" Neela stuttered as she searched for cash._

"_I said I got it," he repeated._

_She sighed. "Thank you, but I'm buying next time."_

"_You got it," he replied, thankful that she was even referring to a 'next time.' They had come a long way from where they were just hours before._

_They both stood and walked out of the bar. Outside, the air was chilly. It was the middle of January and the temperatures in the middle of the night barely left the single digits. _

_Neela tucked her scarf in tighter into her jacket._

"_Are you taking the train?" Ray asked._

"_Ah…no," Neela answered. "I'm right around the corner."_

"_I thought you were staying at Abby's."_

"_I was, but with her moving in with Luka, there was no sense in her keeping the apartment and I couldn't afford to pay for it on my own so…I've been staying at a hotel."_

"_You're staying at a hotel?"_

"_Until I can find something more permanent…yeah."_

"_Well, why don't you just come stay with me?" Ray blurted out. As soon as he said it, he was surprised, but he didn't regret it. He had thought about her moving back with him since the day she left him._

"_What?"_

"_Your room's still there, just the way you left it."_

"_Ray…I…"_

"_Look, just can just stay until you find something more permanent if you want. Come on, it'll be like old times."_

_Neela thought about the proposition and she went over in her head why she had left in the first place. It had all been because of Michael. She was a married woman and she was having feelings for Ray that she knew a married woman shouldn't be having. So she left him to keep herself from doing something that she might later regret. Now Michael was gone and she was out of excuses._

"_Okay," she decided._

"_Yeah?"_

"_Why not? It'll be cheaper than living in a hotel. But it's just until I can find something."_

"_Alright," Ray said. "Welcome back." _

-----

"I made up my own mind about moving back in. You didn't talk me into anything," Neela explained.

Ray leaned in and kissed her lightly on the lips.

"I disagree, but the important thing is that you did move back in," he whispered, planting small kisses along her jaw.

"You also can't seduce me any time you want something," Neela said, holding back a moan. She loved when he seduced her.

"Can Catherine move in?" Ray asked as Neela threw her head back, leaving more skin exposed for him to tantalize with his lips.

Neela knew that she was going to lose this battle and she was just going to have to deal with it.

"Yes," she whispered as Ray pulled her onto his lap.

Author's Note:

For starters, I really, really loved this chapter. Mostly because the flashback scene in this chapter was the first scene I wrote of this entire story. It was going to be the opening sequence, but I decided to put it here instead. Again, this was a very big set-up chapter and there's a lot more to come. Enjoy!


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"And you said yes?" Abby exclaimed, practically shouting. She worked quickly stitching up her patient's forehead.

"What was I supposed to say?" Neela replied, standing a few feet away, leaning against the wall and sipping a diet soda. She had come down to the ER on a surgery consult, but after the patient turned out to not need surgery, Neela decided to take her break and seek out Abby. She desperately needed to talk to someone.

"I would have said no," Abby's patient remarked. Even though she had a blue sheet covering her head so that Abby could concentrate solely on her cut, she had listened to everything Neela told Abby including how Ray had convinced Neela to agree to let Catherine move in and how Ray was helping her move in as they spoke.

"Miss Paquin, you need to hold still," Abby commanded, stitching up the wide cut. "You should have said no, Neela."

"And come off as the bitchy girlfriend?"

"And come off as the smart girlfriend. I mean, going out to dinner with her was one thing, but having her move in? What was Ray thinking? Of course, he probably was thinking with his…"

"Ray's not like that," Neela protested, cutting Abby off. She knew exactly where Abby was going with her comment and Neela didn't want to hear it. "He doesn't have feelings for her anymore."

"That's what they all want you to think."

"Abby…"

"Look, Neela, I like Ray, you know that. He's a good guy…but he's also a guy." She paused. "If one of your ex-boyfriends came back and you asked Ray if he could move in, would Ray let him?"

Neela thought about the situation. Would Ray let her ex-boyfriend move in? She sighed, knowing that Abby had made her point. Ray would never let her ex-boyfriend move in.

"So what am I supposed to do now?"

"Keep an eye on him," Abby's patient piped up. "You could have the most faithful man in the world, but there's nothing like temptation dangling right in front of his face."

Abby tied off her stitch and snapped off her gloves. She took the sheet off of her patient's head and threw it in a specially marked waste garbage disposal along with her gloves.

"I'll be back in a few minutes, Miss Paquin," Abby announced.

Abby began to walk away and Neela followed.

"She has a point," Abby said.

"What?"

"My patient. She has a point. Keep an eye on him."

"I'm not going to…spy on him."

"That's not what I'm suggesting."

"Then what are you suggesting?"

"Just…make sure she doesn't get too close."

Meanwhile, at their apartment, Ray carried a heavy box containing Catherine's books up the stairs. He walked through the apartment and towards what had been Neela's bedroom. Ray had spent all morning transporting all of Neela's things into his room to make way for Catherine and all of her things. What Ray hadn't anticipated was how much stuff both Neela and Catherine would have. Every possible space in the apartment was covered in something belonging to one of them. Ray quickly calculated that they would need to rent some storage space and, considering Neela's reaction to Catherine moving in, he figured that it would most definitely be his stuff that would have to go.

"This is the last one," Ray announced triumphantly, finding an empty spot on the bed to put the heavy box. He wiped his forehead with the bottom of his shirt. Even though it was breezy and cool outside, he was sweating.

"Now I just have to figure out what to do with all of this stuff," Catherine said, sitting in the middle of the pile of stuff that surrounded the bed.

"Well, what can I do to help?" Ray asked.

"You've been so helpful already. I don't want to take up any more of your time."

"Don't worry about it. I've dedicated all day to you."

Catherine smiled and looked around.

"You can start putting those books on the bookshelf," she stated, pointing to the last box that Ray had brought into the room.

Ray picked up the box again and then set it down in front of the bookshelf. He ripped off the packing tape that kept the box closed and began to shelve the books. As he picked up a very worn copy of Herman Melville's Moby Dick, something fell out of the book and fluttered to the ground. Ray bent over and picked it up. It was a dried and pressed flower. Not thinking anything of it, Ray placed the flower back in the book.

"You don't remember, do you?" Catherine questioned.

Ray hadn't been aware that she had been staring at him the whole time.

"Remember what?" Ray responded.

"Junior prom. That's a flower from the bouquet you gave me for our junior prom."

"You kept it?"

"I like remembering good memories," Catherine commented, smiling. She stood up and took the book from Ray. She flipped it open to the page where Ray had placed the flower. "Don't you?"

-----

Ten Years Earlier

_Ray nervously sat on the bed, waiting for her to come out of the bathroom. She had been in there for almost fifteen minutes. _

_They had headed straight for the hotel after the prom was over. They had an amazing time at the prom, dancing, hanging out with their friends, and otherwise just being together, but they both knew what awaited them at the end of the night. They had discussed it at great length for nearly a month and Ray had tried to think of everything to make the night as perfect as possible for her. He had even spent all of the money that he had made from teaching guitar lessons to pay for the upscale hotel. He didn't want their first time to be in a cheap motel or, even worse, in the back of someone's car._

_Ray looked at himself in the mirror that was opposite the bed. He had already taken off his tie and jacket and had debated on removing his shirt. He undid the top four buttons, but, after seeing himself in the mirror, he buttoned two of them back up again. He wasn't sure if he had ever been so nervous._

_He practically jumped off the bed when he heard the bathroom door open. She stood in the doorway with a short, silk, red nightgown on. Ray walked over to her and took her hand. They walked together towards the bed and sat down together. Ray leaned in towards her to kiss her as he had done so many times before, but she pulled back._

_"I'm just…I'm a little nervous," she said._

_"I am, too," Ray admitted._

_"I don't…I don't want you to be disappointed," she stammered._

_"You could never disappoint me."_

_He leaned in to kiss her, but again, she pulled away._

_"I know that I should be excited, and I am, but this just feels so…"_

_"We don't have to do this if you don't want to," Ray said._

_She smiled and realized just how much she loved him. Even though everyone, including her own parents, told her that it was just puppy love and that high school sweethearts never made it, Catherine knew that she and Ray would be the exception to the rule. She would always love him and she knew that he would always love her._

"_I want to," she stated simply._

_As Ray leaned in the third time to kiss her, she let him. Their lips crushed together passionately. Ray ran his hand through her shoulder-length blonde hair and placed his other hand at her waist. _

_"I love you," he whispered against her ear as she felt back onto the bed._

-----

"So you do remember," Catherine said, noticing the glazed look that had come over Ray's face. He had never forgotten the memory of their first time together.

"Yeah, I remember," Ray replied.

"That was a very good night," Catherine stated, running her finger tips lightly over Ray's arm. "The first of many." Her face got closer to his.

Ray took a step backwards, but ran up against a pile of boxes.

"That's all in the past, Catherine," he said.

"But it doesn't have to be."

She reached out for his hand, but Ray pulled away and slid by her. He walked a few feet away, but then stopped in the doorway of the bedroom.

"I'm sorry, Ray, I didn't mean…"

"It's alright."

"No, it's not. It's just…I've been so lonely here in Chicago all by myself and seeing a familiar face I just…I'm so happy to see you."

"And I'm glad to see you, too, Catherine, but I'm with Neela. I love Neela."

"I know. She's a lucky woman."

"I think I'm the lucky one."

Ray walked away, trying to ignore the good feeling that had spread through him when Catherine touched him.

Back in the ER, Neela stood waiting at the elevator to go back up to surgery. She knew that she should be thinking about getting back to work, but her mind was all-consumed with the conversation that she and Abby had just had. She had hoped that talking to Abby would have put her mind at ease, but it had done quite the opposite. Neela had agreed to let Catherine live with them because she was trying to be the supportive, non-jealous girlfriend, but her plan had backfired big time and it was beginning to really sink in for the first time.

The elevator door opened and Neela went to step into the elevator, not really paying attention to where she was going. She bumped into another person.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

"What? No hello?"

Neela looked up and saw that she had ran straight into Gates.

"Sorry," she apologized again. "I didn't see you."

Neela took a step forward, but Tony blocked her.

"How are you doing, Mayday?" He asked.

"I asked you not to call me that," Neela replied. "And I have to go back to surgery."

They two of them had managed to be civil to each other after they broke up. Tony still had the annoying habit of calling her too often for surgery consultations, but she figured that if that was the worst that came out of their broken relationship, she wouldn't complain.

"How about, 'I'm doing well, Tony, how are you? How's work?'"

The elevator door closed.

"I don't really have time for chitchat," Neela protested, pushing the button for the elevator again.

"I'm great, Neela, thanks for asking," he said, carrying on the conversation that he was having with himself. He put his hand on her arm, but she jerked it away. "Come on, what happened to being friendly?"

"I've had a really crappy day. I'm not in the mood to be friendly," Neela said.

"Did you lose a patient?" Neela didn't reply. She was not about to explain to him that her bad day stemmed not from work, but from the problem that was waiting for her at home. "How are you and…ah…what's his face doing?" Tony asked, changing the subject.

"His name is Ray and we're doing fine." She knew very well that Tony knew Ray's name, but that he was just trying to get on her nerves. Tony and Ray were forced to work on cases together often and, like Neela and Tony, they tried to be civil, but they usually ended up arguing rather than agreeing on every case.

"Let me ask you something, Neela. If he had been your rebound guy, would things be different for us?"

"We agreed we wouldn't do this," Neela said, crossing her arms and wishing that the elevator would hurry up.

"Just trying to make conversation."

"How's this for conversation? How's Meg?" Neela asked, realizing that she was being vicious for no reason. She knew very well that Tony and Meg still lived together. Neela couldn't help but wonder every once and a while if, even if they had stayed together, Tony would just never be able to say goodbye to his 'family.'

The elevator doors opened and Neela stepped inside. She stared at the floor, unable to look at Tony as the elevator doors closed.

Author's Note: Okay, this chapter I made me a little nervous for a few reasons. For one, I wasn't really going to do flashback scenes that didn't have to do with Ray and Neela, but I felt like the flashback in this chapter was kind of important and it helped establish Ray and Catherine's relationship a little bit more. Secondly, I really have no idea how old Ray is supposed to be, so the "ten years earlier" in the flashback sequence is totally a guess. And thirdly, I was unsure about doing a scene with Neela and Tony (and I actually added that scene after I thought I finished the whole thing), but I did decide to add it in and I hope it worked with the rest of the chapter/story. Anyway, despite my nervousness, I think the chapter came out well and I'm looking forward to your comments!


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Since the day she and Ray had begun dating, Neela had always looked forward to going home after her shift was over to see him. She could never scramble up the stairs and get the key in the door fast enough because she was always bursting inside to run into his arms and feel his familiar touch. As she trudged up the stairs to the apartment door, though, she couldn't have felt more opposite. She of course wanted to see Ray, but she did not want to see Catherine. She had spent all day trying to think about how to make the situation with Catherine less awkward, but she hadn't come up with anything.

Neela slowly opened the door.

"Hey," Ray said as Neela walked into the apartment and closed the door behind her. Both Ray and Catherine were sitting on the couch with their feet up on the coffee table watching an old movie on television. Each of them was sipping a beer.

Neela quickly glanced around the apartment. There were still boxes everywhere, including a mixture of both Ray's and Catherine's belongings. The fact that not one of the boxes contained her belongings did make her smile.

"Hi," Neela replied.

"It's nice to see you again, Neela," Catherine said. "And thank you for letting me stay here. I know it's an inconvenience, but I really appreciate it."

"It's no problem," Neela lied.

She couldn't take her eyes off just how close Ray and Catherine were sitting beside each other on the couch. Catherine had obviously recently showered. Her wet hair sprawled across her almost bare shoulders. She was wearing a skimpy, pink tank top that left a section of her stomach revealed. Her blue shorts showed off her muscular thighs.

"You want to come watch this movie with us?" Ray asked. "It just started."

"Ray and I used to watch it all the time together in high school," Catherine added. "We used to watch it…what? At least once a week, if not more."

"I'll pass," Neela answered, trying not to think about how often Catherine and Ray sat together watching that movie, or any other movie. "I'm exhausted. I'm going to go to bed."

Neela walked over towards the couch. She intentionally stood right in front of the television and leaned over and kissed Ray deeply on the lips.

"Goodnight," she said, walking off towards the bedroom.

"I…ah…I think I'm going to call it a night, too," Ray said, staring at the closed door of his bedroom. Simply feeling Neela's lips against had him thinking about nothing else but being with her.

"What about our movie?" Catherine pouted.

Ray stood up. "I really need to talk to her," he replied even though his mind was far from talking. "Goodnight, Catherine."

He walked off towards the bedroom. He opened the door and slipped inside.

"I thought you were watching a movie," Neela stated as she pulled her shirt up and over her head.

"I've seen it," he replied. He couldn't help but stare at her even though her back was to him. Every so often it hit him just how lucky he was to have her.

"So I've heard."

Neela reached for a T-Shirt as Ray approached her and placed his hands on her hips. He nuzzled her neck and began to kiss it softly. He unhooked the back of her bra and slid the straps down her shoulders.

"Not tonight," she said, letting the bra slide off completely.

Ray stopped kissing her. She had never said those words to her. They had made love every night that they were both home since they had begun dating, most oftentimes, more than once. Neela slid the T-shirt over her head and turned to face him, sensing his obvious hurt.

"Catherine's right outside," she protested.

Ray couldn't help but smile as he leaned down and kissed her neck.

"I promise I'll be quiet," Ray said.

Neela held back a groan. He always knew exactly which spots to hit to make her melt in his arms, but she wasn't going to let him this time. She was completely exhausted, both from her long day at work and from worrying about going home to see Catherine all day, and she really did feel weird with Catherine right in the other room.

"No, Ray," Neela demanded.

Ray stopped kissing her.

"Is everything alright?" He asked. He knew that having Catherine staying at their apartment wasn't Neela's idea of an ideal situation and he didn't want it to ruin what they had taken so long to build.

"Everything's fine," she answered, standing on her tiptoes and kissing him. "I swear to you, everything's fine. It's just been a long day."

Neela took his hand and got into bed. He laid down beside her, pulling the blankets up to cover them both. She laid her head on his arm as he placed his other hand on his hip. She snuggled close to him, her head buried between his arm and his neck.

"I love you," she whispered, closing her eyes.

"And I love you," he replied.

He listened as her breathing slowed. When he was sure she was asleep, he kissed her forehead and closed his eyes.

The next morning, Neela was jarred awake by loud, dance music that had probably woken up the entire building by then. She reached over to feel for Ray, but he wasn't beside her. Neela forced her eyes open and looked at the clock by the bed. It was almost noon. Ray had to be at work for nine. She must have slept right through his getting up and leaving. As she laid there alone in bed, she wished that Ray had woken her up to say goodbye.

Neela swung her legs over the edge of the bed and stood up. As she opened the bedroom door, the music got louder. She looked over to the living room. The coffee table and couch had been moved back and Catherine was standing in the middle of the room, facing the television, jogging in place. She wore nothing but a bright pink sports bra and matching bright pink spandex shorts.

A woman wearing a similar outfit to Catherine's was jogging on the television, spewing words of encouragement. The music changed to a more upbeat tempo and Catherine began to do leg squats and swing her arms over her head, mimicking the trainer on the television.

Neela walked towards the kitchen.

"Oh, Neela!" Catherine exclaimed, grabbing the television remote and pausing the video that she was watching. "I didn't realize you were up." Catherine continued to jog in place. "I hope I didn't wake you. I like to get my exercises in at least once a day."

"You didn't wake me," Neela quipped.

Neela began to rummage through the cabinets in the kitchen. Catherine appeared n the doorway, still jogging in place and annoyingly swinging her hips from side to side.

"If you're looking for cereal, there isn't any left," Catherine explained, pointing to the empty box in the garbage can.

Agitated, Neela slammed the cabinet door. She had been looking for cereal.

"There was half a box yesterday," Neela stated.

"Ray and I wanted a snack before our movie last night and we had breakfast this morning. He said he'd pick up more on the way home from work."

"You had breakfast together?"

Besides their omelets at three o'clock in the afternoon the day of their first kiss, Ray and Neela had never sat down and had breakfast together. Even if they both were home in the morning, they were usually too busy enjoying each other's company in bed to think about breakfast. Or, more often than not, they would both just grab something to eat on their way to work or hope that there were leftover pastries in the lounge at the ER that they could munch on to tide them over until lunch.

"Sure. In high school we had breakfast together every morning before school. Monday's and Wednesday's we would go to his house and Tuesday's and Thursday's we'd go to mine. Friday's we'd always wake up extra early and go to the local diner down the street. They had the best French toast in the entire city."

"That sounds nice," Neela replied somewhat sarcastically.

Although she knew she could do nothing about the past, Neela couldn't help but be annoyed with the fact that Ray and Catherine had eaten breakfast together with Catherine in the outfit that she was in.

Neela looked in the refrigerator and grabbed a Tupperware container with old pasta left in it. She popped off the lid, grabbed a fork, and began eating the pasta cold.

"It must be nice to eat whatever you want," Catherine commented, looking Neela up and down.

"I'll be in my room," Neela said, taking the pasta with her. She knew that she shouldn't let Catherine bother her and that she should make some attempt at actually being nice to her, but she just couldn't do it.

"So, you were married, huh?" Catherine questioned, following Neela to her bedroom.

"Yes, I was," Neela answered, stopping at her bedroom door. She continued to chow down on her pasta.

"Get divorced?"

"He was a soldier in Iraq," Neela retorted. "He was killed."

"I'm sorry."

Neela turned to go into her room. She didn't like talking about Michael. Everything had happened so fast – Michael coming home, them getting married, and then Michael leaving again and never returning home. Neela knew that she loved him and she did miss him, but she also knew that they just weren't meant to be. Even if he had returned home from the war, she wondered how long their marriage would have lasted. They had gotten married on impulse and Neela knew that that wasn't what kept a relationship going.

"So, what about the guy you shacked up with after him? What happened to him?"

-----

9 Months, 10 Days Earlier

_Neela felt his hand rub her back. He kissed her. She felt his stubble brush across her face, scratching her. She disliked the way his coarse hair made her skin feel, but she would never tell him that. He was too proud of his permanent six o'clock shadow._

_"Neela…" he whispered._

_"I know," she said with her eyes still closed. "I have to go." _

_Neela knew that Meg and Sarah would be home at any minute. Tony kept telling her that he was going to move out, but he hadn't yet._

_Their roll in the hay was one of their typical mid-day rendezvous. Any time both Tony and Neela had the same time off in the middle of the day, she found herself in his apartment. While it always seemed like a good idea in the beginning, she always felt wrong in the end because she knew that she was sharing him with another woman. _

_Neela stood up and quickly pulled on her shirt and pants. She looked through the sheets to find her bra and underwear. She found them on the floor beside the bed. Her eyes began to tear, but she blinked the tears away. She tried to tell herself that she didn't know why she was crying. She was supposed to be happy. She was with the man she chose to be with, the man who was supposed to be everything she wanted, but she wasn't happy. And she knew that that unhappiness was why she was crying._

"_Neela…" Tony reached out and grabbed her arm. Neela yanked it away._

"_I can't do this anymore," she stated._

"_What?"_

"_I can't do this anymore. I can't…be with you anymore."_

"_I know things are tough with Meg, but I promise you that…"_

"_No. I'm done with promises."_

"_Mayday…"_

"_Don't call me that. I've always hated that stupid nickname." Neela paused. "I'm sorry, Tony. After everything that's happened…after Michael, after…" She realized that she was going to say Ray, but she stopped herself from saying it. "I just needed someone and…"_

"_Was I just some rebound guy to you?"_

"_I didn't mean for this to happen. I didn't mean to hurt you."_

"_Then don't. I know things are messed up right now, but give it time. Neela, I love you."_

_Neela shook her head. _

"_No you don't. You just think you do because I'm a way out of a situation you don't want to be in. You're in love with the idea of being in love with me, but let's stop pretending, Tony…for both our sakes. It's over. I'm sorry," Neela said before turning around and walking away._

-----

"He was a mistake," Neela said in response to Catherine's question.

"I know how that can be," Catherine replied, gathering her hair in her hand and throwing it over her shoulder. She ran her hand through her hair to brush it and she began to braid it. "I think almost every guy I've ever dated was a mistake. Except for Ray, of course. After Ray and I…stopped seeing each other, I slept with the first guy I met in college. But he was nothing like Ray. You know, Ray may never have been the most romantic guy in the world, but he made our first time special. This guy just screwed me in the back of his car."

"Yeah, well, guys can be jerks sometimes," Neela commented, trying to figure out how to get Catherine to stop talking to her so that she could eat her pasta in peace. She really didn't want to hear any more about Ray and Catherine and their past together.

"At least my first time was special, you know, with Ray."

"You lost your virginity to Ray?" Neela asked, suddenly more interested. As she asked, though, she realized that she really didn't want to know. It was easier not knowing.

"We lost our virginity to each other," Catherine corrected. "It was such a perfect night after junior prom. Ray didn't tell you that?"

Neela's eyes narrowed. She was suddenly furious at Catherine, but she realized that the person she should be furious at was Ray. She couldn't believe that Ray hadn't told her, especially after the fight they had had after Neela found out that Catherine and Ray had dated at all. Neela expected Ray to be more open with her, but it was obvious that he hadn't been.

Angrily, Neela spun around and walked into the bedroom, slamming the door in Catherine's face.

Author's Note:

This was kind of a fun one to write, even the flashback with Gates. I just had to add something in there about his stubble because I absolutely hate it. Anyway, I hope you liked it and please comment!


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Later that night, Neela stood at the front desk on the surgery floor, completing a patient's chart. He had just gone through triple bypass surgery and Neela hadn't had the chance to finish the chart immediately after his surgery. Instead, she had been called to the ER for a consult and had ended up doing an emergency c-section. Now she had to catch up on all of the missed paperwork.

The floor was all but deserted. It was almost two AM and, unless there was an emergency brought in, there weren't any surgeries planned for the night.

"Hey there," Ray said as he came out of the elevator.

"Hey yourself," Neela replied, concentrating on the chart.

Ray instinctively placed his hands on her waist and kissed the back of her head.

"How was your day?" He asked.

"Busy," she replied.

She debated on whether she should pull away from him and angrily confront him about what Catherine had told her earlier. She had brooded over the information she had learned all day and, although she was initially angry with Ray, and was still mad that he hadn't said anything about it, she convinced herself that it didn't matter. As he had said when she confronted him about not telling her that he and Catherine had dated, what was in the past was in the past and Neela was his present and hopefully future.

"How was your day?" She questioned.

"It was good, but I missed you."

Ray was proud of Neela for excelling in surgery, but he did miss her working in the ER. He felt like he never saw her when they were at work. She was always too busy rushing from patient to patient giving consults and rushing up to surgery that they barely had time to so much as speak to each other.

"I thought your shift ended at midnight," Neela commented, still scribbling on the chart.

"It did but I had a patient crash twice on me while I was on my way out the door. Besides, I thought we could leave together." He began to nibble at her ear.

"Ray, I've got to finish all these charts and…"

He applied a slight pressure to her hip and she turned around to face him. He placed his right hand on her cheek and kissed her.

"I love you," he whispered into her ear.

She smiled, amazed at how he always managed to say the right thing at the right time. Any hostility she had left towards him totally disappeared. She wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her hands in his hair.

"We both have the day off," she said. "I have an idea of how we can spend it."

Ray's smile faded. "I…ah…I promised Catherine that I'd show her around. She's been here a while, but she hasn't really had the chance to do any sightseeing. I was going to ask if you wanted to come with us."

Neela tried to hide her disappointment.

"No, that's alright," she said after debating about whether or not she should go. She didn't really want to tag along and go sightseeing, but she also wanted to keep an eye on Catherine. There was something about her that Neela didn't trust, but she knew that she could trust Ray. "I've got some surgeries Crenshaw wants me to brush up on."

"You sure? I could cancel with Catherine."

"No, it's alright. Go, have fun."

"How about we go home right now and make up for the rest of the day?" Ray said in a low voice. He began to kiss her neck and he pulled at the opening V-neck of her scrub top to reveal more skin.

"I really need to finish these charts…" Neela stammered, her head spinning. "And check on a few patients." She spun around, trying to forget the feelings that Ray had awakened in her simply from kissing her. "I could be here for a while."

"I'll wait," he whispered in her ear.

"Well, if you're going to wait, you're going to have to do it somewhere else."

"Oh come on, you don't want me to watch you work?"

"I don't want you to distract me."

"Me? Distracting?"

Neela turned around, raising an eyebrow.

"I think you know quite well just how distracting you can be."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he lied. He knew exactly what she was referring to.

"Well, you may be a distracting liar…but I love you anyway."

She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him lightly before turning around again and trying desperately to concentrate on the patient's chart instead of on her tingling lips.

Neela sat on the couch with her feet up on the coffee table reading a medical textbook that Crenshaw had suggested she check out. She flipped the page and began to read about partial amputations. As she read the first sentence, she sighed. Even though she had read more than half of the book in the last six hours, she hadn't really been paying attention. Her mind constantly wandered to Ray.

Earlier that morning, after Neela had successfully completed her patient's charts and checked in on the necessary patients, sometime around 4 AM, she found Ray sleeping in the ER lounge. They went home together, but were so exhausted that they both fell asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillows.

Ray and Catherine were out the door by nine that morning, and for the second day in a row, Ray hadn't woken up Neela to say goodbye. Neela knew that he was just being courteous and letting her sleep, but she made a mental note to tell him that she would rather be woken up than wake up without him.

It had been almost twelve hours since Catherine and Ray left and Neela hadn't so much as heard from Ray. She had decided at five that she should wait for him for dinner, but, now four hours later, her stomach growled out of hunger. Neela couldn't deny that she was somewhat hurt that he hadn't even bothered to call her.

Annoyed that she couldn't concentrate and even more annoyed at Ray, Neela snapped her book closed and dropped it on the couch. She got up and walked into the kitchen, determined to find something to eat. As she began to look for a box of cereal, her comfort food, in the cabinets, she remembered that there wasn't anymore and that Ray hadn't picked any up after his shift like Catherine said he said he would. Of course, he had instead waited for Neela after his shift was over, but that didn't stop her from being a little bit angry at him.

Although she didn't want to cook, Neela settled on macaroni and cheese. She took out a pan and filled it halfway with water. She put it on the stove and waited for the water to boil. As she poured in the dry macaroni a few minutes later, she heard the apartment door open.

"Neela, we're home!" Ray shouted.

Part of her wanted to run to him and jump in his arms, but she restrained herself. She didn't want to make it seem like she couldn't survive a day without him, even though that's how she felt.

"I'm in the kitchen," she replied calmly.

He put down the bags that he had in his hand and walked into the kitchen. Neela stood at the stove, stirring the macaroni with a wooden spoon. Ray wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her on the cheek.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi yourself," she replied, not responding to his intimate touches.

"I missed you."

"How was your day?" She asked coldly.

"What? No I miss you, too?" She didn't reply. He let go of her. "Is everything alright?"

"You should have called."

"Called? You knew I was out with Catherine."

"And dinner? I waited for you."

"Well, after we saw some sights, we decided to go bowling…"

"Bowling? I didn't know you liked to bowl."

"Sure. Catherine and I used to be on a junior league when we were in high school. Anyway, then we stumbled across this karaoke restaurant and we used to do karaoke all the time when we…"

"Were in high school, I know. You still could have called."

"Well, I was going to call you and see if you wanted to join us, but I know how much you hate karaoke bars and…"

"You still could have asked," she said, turning around, "or at least called."

"I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking."

She turned back to the stove. She really didn't want to be angry with him. She wanted him to hold her like he had been minutes before, but she wasn't going to admit that to him. She was tired of having Catherine around and she wanted Ray to know it.

"Oh, come on," he said, kissing her shoulder, "you're not really mad at me, are you?" He took her hand in his, held her arm out, and sent a trail of kisses down her arm.

Neela smiled. "Next time, just call," she said.

She turned around and Ray leaned in and their lips met in a passionate fury. He lifted her up so that she was sitting on the counter beside the stove. Their kiss grew in intensity. Ray reached for the bottom of Neela's shirt and he began to lift it up. Within seconds, he had lifted it up over her head and threw it on the floor. He was somewhat disappointed when he saw that she was wearing a white tank top underneath. As his hand reached underneath her tank top and her hand began working on his belt, Catherine walked in.

"Ray, I was…oh…"

Both Neela and Ray immediately stopped even though neither of them wanted to. Neela had forgotten that Catherine was there at all. Ray quickly fixed his belt and stepped back. Neela jumped off the counter and continued to stir her macaroni and cheese, pretending that nothing had happened. She wanted Catherine to feel some sort of jealousy that Ray was with Neela now, not her.

"I wasn't sure if you wanted to play a little," Catherine stumbled.

"Play?" Neela asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Catherine and I found a music store where you can rent and buy instruments and then play and record in a small studio."

"Ray convinced me to buy a bass like the one I used to play in our band," Catherine added. "We figured it's never too late to get the band back together. So, you want to play?"

Ray looked from Catherine to Neela, who was busy taking the macaroni off the stove and pouring it into a strainer in the sink.

"I…ah…I'm kind of tired," Ray said.

"Oh, come on, just for a little while," Catherine pleaded. "My wrist won't last that long anyway. Let's just see if we remember any of our old tunes."

"Neela?" Ray questioned.

"It's fine," she said quietly, appreciating that he had asked her permission, even though it also made her feel somewhat strange. She never wanted to be the type of girlfriend who required her significant other to ask permission to do something. Ray was his own person and he could make his own decisions.

Ray walked out of the room after Catherine, leaving Neela standing at the sink with a tear rolling down her cheek.

Author's Note:

Okay, again, I don't have much to say. This one was another easy chapter to write. Let me know what you think!


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Neela picked up a french fry, looked at it, and then dropped it down on her plate again. She just wasn't hungry. She hadn't been hungry all day. Abby, on the other hand, who sat across from her, had already eaten the majority of her chicken sandwich and potato wedges.

"Okay, what is wrong?" Abby asked.

Abby reached across the table and took a fry from Neela's plate. She dropped it into a pile of ketchup and then brought it to her mouth.

"Neela…hello…" Abby said with her mouth full, waving her hand in front of Neela's face.

"What?" Neela asked. She hadn't heard a word Abby had said. She was too busy thinking.

"What's going on?"

"What do you mean?"

"You've been zoning out all day. You haven't eaten anything. You've barely spoken. There's obviously something going on?"

"It's nothing, I'm fine," Neela said, pushing the plate of food away from her. She didn't even want to look at it.

"You didn't invite me to lunch to not eat and not talk."

Neela sighed. "It's been two weeks."

"What's been two weeks?"

Neela lowered her voice. "It's been two weeks since Ray and I…" she paused, wondering how to finish the sentence without embarrassing herself and without having the rest of the restaurant overhear. "Had sex."

"Okay."

"You don't find that odd?"

"No."

"Come on, you don't think two weeks is a long stretch of time?"

"Nothing can beat Luka's and my five week stretch," Abby commented.

"Yeah, but you have a baby."

"And people with babies don't have sex?"

"I'm sorry, that wasn't fair. I know you and Luka are very much in love. But, you know, I expected our…passion to go down hill eventually, but not so soon."

"Catherine being there for the last two weeks wouldn't have anything to do with this, would she?"

Neela rolled her eyes.

"She's always around," Neela complained.

"What about her job? I thought she was a lawyer or something?"

"She got some time off for her injury."

"She only has a broken wrist."

"Yeah, but, without it, she can't write or type so they gave her four weeks off."

"Well, think of it this way, you've only got two more weeks to go."

"I think I'll go crazy if I have to live for two more weeks with that…God, she drives me insane. Every morning I wake up to her doing her crazy exercises half naked or I come home from work and she and Ray are playing their guitars or having dinner together or talking about the good times they used to have together. Or Catherine's busy reminding me that she lost her virginity to Ray."

Abby spewed the water that was in her mouth across the table.

"What?"

Abby dabbed her mouth and chin with a napkin.

"Oh, I didn't tell you that before?" Neela asked sarcastically. "Catherine told me straight out that she and Ray lost their virginity to each other."

"What did Ray say when you told him what she said?"

"I haven't told him."

"You haven't told him that you know?"

"It's like he said, she's his past. I can't…stop things from happening back then that happened."

"But he kept it from you, Neela. First he doesn't tell you that they dated and then he doesn't tell you that they lost their virginity to each other. I mean, come on, Neela."

"I just…I don't think he thinks about it, you know."

"You can't tell me that you weren't angry when you found out."

"Oh, I was infuriated at first, but I let it go. I mean, he never asks me about my past. Hell, we barely have time to talk about the present."

"That may be true, but your past isn't sleeping in your old room. Why don't you just talk to Ray about it?"

"I told you, I'm…over it. I don't care about their past anymore."

Neela knew that she was lying, but she had been trying to tell herself that she didn't care about their past for the last two weeks. She thought if she said it more and more, it would eventually come true.

"So don't bring up the virginity thing, but you still need to talk to him about not spending enough time together. You know he adores you. He'll do anything to make you happy."

"I know, but I just keep thinking if I can just suck it up for a little while longer, she'll eventually go away and everything will go back to normal and it will save me from having to beg him to throw out his ex-girlfriend."

"Well, don't sacrifice your happiness because you're trying to be the perfect girlfriend." Abby paused. "But, if it's your sex life you're worried about, just spice it up a little."

"And how do you propose I do that?"

"The three P's. Place, position, and paraphernalia."

"No, no, and what?"

Neela stared at herself in the mirror, cursing herself for listening to Abby. After their lunch, Abby had whisked Neela away to a nearby costume shop where she made Neela try on every naughty costume there was in the store. Abby had finally convinced her to go with a short, tight, low-cut, white pleather nurses outfit complete with a fake stethoscope and small, white cap for her head.

Looking at herself, Neela couldn't help but blush. She had never done anything like this before. She only hoped that it paid off. She had never really considered herself a very sexy woman, but she had to admit, in the nurses outfit, she did look sexy.

Ray was supposed to be home any time and Catherine was supposed to be at a meeting. Even though she wasn't back at work yet, the lawyer she worked for was taking a big case and he needed her help. According to Catherine, the meeting would last a long time.

As Neela put the fake stethoscope around her neck, she heard a key going in to the lock of the front door. Neela placed her hand on her stomach, which was fluttering with butterflies. She tried to tell herself that she had no reason to be nervous. It was only Ray after all, but that gave her little comfort. She was doing this for him and she wanted him to enjoy it.

Neela stepped out of the bedroom, placing her hands on her hips and trying to give her sexiest smile. The door opened and Ray walked in.

"Did anyone call for a doctor?" She asked suggestively.

Ray's jaw dropped as he looked at Neela. Neela's jaw dropped as she saw Catherine walk in behind him.

"Oh…I…" Catherine stuttered.

Neela took one look at her and fled back into the bedroom. Her face became hot with anger. This wasn't at all what she envisioned the night to be like. Neela slammed the bedroom door and began ripping off the costume as soon as she heard the door shut.

"Well, that was awkward," Catherine pointed out as she flopped down on the couch. "Hey, Ray, do you want to watch…"

Ray ignored her and walked towards the bedroom. He opened the door and stepped inside, closing it behind him. Neela was standing beside the bed, pulling a sweatshirt over the T-Shirt that she had changed into. Ray looked over at the garbage can and saw that Neela had thrown the costume away.

"Don't," she stated.

"Don't what?"

"Don't…say anything."

Ray smiled. "I was going to say that you looked incredibly sexy," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "And that I think you should put that costume back on and…" He dipped his head down to kiss her, but Neela took a step backwards.

"What is she doing here?"

"What?"

"She was supposed to have a meeting. What the hell is she doing here and what the hell were you doing with her?"

"Are you accusing me of something?"

"Where were you, Ray? What were you doing together?" Neela shouted.

"I don't like what you're insinuating."

"And I don't like having to share my boyfriend."

Neela grabbed a pillow off the bed and began to walk away. Ray grabbed her arm.

"Her meeting was cancelled and we happened to come home at the same time," he explained. "We saw each other outside the apartment building."

"That's convenient."

"Damn it, Neela, don't you not trust me?"

"It's hard to trust someone who doesn't tell me the truth."

"What are you talking about?"

"You and Catherine lost your virginity to each other! Why didn't you tell me?"

Ray was taken aback. That wasn't what he was expecting.

"I didn't think I would have to give you a play by play of our relationship. We've been through this before. She and I are in the past."

"That's not what she thinks."

"What?"

"It's obvious. She tries to be near you every second, she hangs on your every word. She's still in love with you."

"She's just lonely, Neela. She's got no friends and she's new to the city. We may have been each other's first loves, but it was a long time ago. We're just friends now."

"First loves don't just go away, Ray. It's never that simple."

"She is not in love with me."

"Why are you defending her?"

"Because she hasn't done anything wrong!"

"Why can't you see it? Why can't you see that she's trying to get you back? And you do nothing to stop her. You are always willing to spend time with her. All you both do is talk about the good times you had when you were together. You two have everything in common…the guitars and the band and the music and the karaoke and the watching old movies. And we…we have nothing. You're perfect together."

Neela turned away from him. For the first time she realized what was really bothering her. It wasn't having Catherine around all the time, it was that she felt like she wasn't good enough for Ray.

"Maybe you should go be with her," Neela whispered.

She wrenched her arm away from his grip, but Ray grabbed her hand.

"Neela…"

"What?"

"I don't want her. I want you."

"Then tell her to leave."

Ray sighed.

"I can't do that, Neela. She's a friend. She needs me right now."

"I need you."

A tear rolled down her cheek.

"I'm here," he said, placing his hands on her waist. "I'm right here."

"Ray!" Catherine called from the other room. Neela stared at Ray, begging her with her eyes not to respond to Catherine.

"Yeah?" Ray called back.

Neela walked away from him.

"I can't find any more toilet paper!" Catherine yelled.

"I'll…ah…I'll be right there."

"As long as she's here," Neela said with her back towards Ray, "you're not."

Neela opened the door and walked over to the couch with the pillow that she still had in her hand. She put the pillow on the couch and laid down as her eyes stung with tears. She knew that it was going to be a very sleepless night.

Author's Note:

I am so glad that I finally got this chapter written. This was the "fight" that I based this entire story off of and I just couldn't wait to get there. Of course, I don't like it when our roomies fight, but I do love the angst and this scene has been playing in my head for a long time and I'm happy at the way it came out. Hope you enjoyed!


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

An hour after their fight, Ray was lying in bed alone. He felt the spot next to him where Neela should have been and it made him feel empty. Tiredly, he threw the blankets off of his body, planted his feet firmly on the ground, and walked out to the living room. Neela was lying on the couch with her eyes closed, but he could immediately tell that she was not sleeping. He had spent countless hours watching her and listening to her sleep. She was beautiful when she slept, almost angelic. As he looked at her lying on the couch, she still had a look of anger on her face.

"Come on, Neela, come to bed," he coaxed.

"Make Catherine move out," she stated, opening her eyes.

"You know I can't do that."

Neela rolled over on her side, showing him that she wasn't about to budge.

"Neela, be reasonable…"

"I think I'm being plenty reasonable. Either she goes or I spend tonight and every night out here until she does."

"Neela…"

"I'm tired, Ray, so, unless you have anything useful to say, I'd like to be left alone."

This time it was he who was angry. He felt like he was being punished for something that he had no control over and that wasn't his fault. He took a deep breath, trying to suppress his anger.

"At least let me stay on the couch. You take the bed," he offered.

Neela was somewhat shocked by his sweetness. But, then again, why should she be? No matter what, Ray always treated her well.

"I'm fine, thank you," she stated. She was not going to give him the satisfaction of gaining brownie points for being nice to her. She was still furious with him and she wanted him to know it.

"I'm not going to be able to sleep knowing that you're out here on an uncomfortable couch, tossing and turning."

"Who said I'd be tossing and turning?" Neela asked, trying to make him think that she was perfectly content sleeping out on the couch. In reality, she felt quite the opposite. Not only was the couch more than a little uncomfortable to sleep on, but she also missed him lying next to her.

"Neela…"

"I'm going to sleep now," she said.

Ray threw his hands up in the air as a sign of total defeat.

"Fine. Goodnight!" He stormed back to their bedroom and slammed the door.

When Ray woke up the next morning, after an almost sleepless night, he immediately got out of bed and walked into the living room, ready to offer some kind of apology to Neela, even though he still didn't agree with her and he still wasn't going to ask Catherine to leave. As he glanced over the back of the couch, expecting her to be there, he realized that she wasn't. He quickly figured that she must have gone to work early.

Angrily, Ray wandered into the kitchen and searched for something to eat for breakfast. As he looked for some cereal, he remembered that he had never picked up any more after he and Catherine had eaten it all and that was over two weeks ago.

"She's probably still holding that over my head along with everything else," he grumbled to himself.

Instead of cereal, Ray reached for a loaf of bread and put two pieces into the toaster.

"Good morning," Catherine said, walking into the kitchen. Her wet hair was wrapped in a towel on the top of her head. She was wearing a short, light green robe that was loosely tied around her waist, revealing more skin than necessary.

"Morning," Ray replied. As he glanced at her, he couldn't deny that she wasn't attractive, but he silently told himself that it was nothing more than a physical attraction. It wasn't wrong for him to still find other women attractive even though he had a girlfriend, was it?

"Toast?" He asked.

"Sure," Catherine replied, sitting down at the table.

As the toast popped out of the toaster, Ray picked them up and dropped them down on a plate. He brought the plate over to the table and put it down. After he put two more pieces into the toaster, he went to the refrigerator and took out butter and jam. He put them both on the table along with two knives.

"So, what happened last night?" Catherine asked, beginning to spread jam on her toast.

"What do you mean?" Ray replied, not really wanting to explain the whole situation to Catherine.

"You know, the whole Neela sleeping on the couch thing," Catherine said as she munched on her toast. Ray's toast popped and he took it out and put it on a plate.

"We just had a little fight," Ray explained.

He took his plate and sat down at the table across from her.

"It wasn't about me, was it?"

Ray shook his head. "No," he lied. "It was about work."

"You two work a lot. It must be hard to spend time together with your crazy schedules."

"It can be, but we make do."

"Look, Ray, don't take this the wrong way. Neela seems like a great person but…"

"But?"

"You two are just so…different. She's just not your type."

"And what is my type?"

"Me," Catherine answered, smiling.

-----

14 Years Earlier

_Ray slammed the front door closed and jumped down the three front steps, landing safely on the browning grass. He shoved his hands into his pockets and began to briskly walk away, replaying the fight that he had just had with his father in his head. They fought constantly now about anything and everything. No matter what Ray did, it was never good enough for his father. He always played his guitar too loud, he never set the table perfectly, his grades were never good enough even though they were all A's and B's, and the list went on.. This time the fight was about the laundry that Ray had left in the dryer for more than twenty minutes after the dryer buzzer went off. Ray couldn't take it anymore._

_As he walked down the street, he kicked small pebbles and rocks, seeing how far he could make them travel. The street was almost deserted besides a young mother walking her baby in a stroller. The woman smiled at Ray. He recognized her as one of his neighbors, but he didn't smile back. He wasn't in the mood for socializing._

_He walked a little bit further, trying to figure out where he could go. He knew that his two best friends were on vacation for the entire summer and that most of his other friends were either busy at their first jobs or just sitting on their couches playing video games and Ray was too restless for that. His parents told him he was too young to get a job even though he was fifteen and wanted one just so that he wouldn't have to sit home all summer long by himself._

_As Ray thought about going down to the local pizza parlor that was the coolest hang out spot for any teenager in the neighborhood, he saw a large, orange truck pulling down the street. The truck passed him and he read the bold lettering on the side that said "People's Movers." He realized that it must be for the people who bought the house next door to him. The truck was being followed by a grey minivan._

_Intrigued, Ray headed back towards his house and watched the truck back into the driveway of the house next to his. Ray walked up his front lawn and sat down on the front steps. He watched as the movers began to unload the truck and the family, a husband, wife, and two kids piled out of the minivan. One of the kids, a young boy, was probably only seven or eight, but the girl was most definitely Ray's age and she was exquisite. He was immediately attracted to her short, wild blonde hair and her tall, thin legs. He heard her laugh and he couldn't help but smile. It was a young, girlish giggle and it gave him a strange, warming feeling in his chest. Even from far away, Ray could tell that there was something about her that set her apart from any other girl he had ever seen before. As he stared at her, he knew that he wouldn't be able to concentrate on anything else until he met her._

_Ray ran his hand through his hair and walked with a swagger in his step towards the family, trying to act cool._

_"Hi," he said, facing the husband. "I'm Ray Barnett, I live next door." He knew that the only chance he had with the girl would be to win over her parents and he was good at sucking up to adults._

_"George Taylor," the man replied, shaking Ray's hand. "It's nice to meet you. This is my family. My wife, Jean and my children, Catherine and George Junior."_

_Ray shook each of their hands, but saved the girl for last. He wanted to remember what her skin felt like. She smiled at him as their hands made contact, sending a spark straight to his brain. He had held hands with girls before. Heck, Susan Reeves had even let him get to second base last year on one cold winter night, but just the one touch of Catherine's hand made him feel more alive than Susan Reeves ever did. Ray noted that Catherine smelled of lilac and she was even prettier up close._

_"How old are you, Ray?" George asked. _

_"Fifteen," Ray answered, unable to take his eyes off of Catherine._

_"That's how old my little Catherine is."_

_Catherine rolled her eyes. "I'm not little, dad," she stated, not taking her eyes off Ray either even though she was somewhat embarrassed by her father's comment. Her new neighbor was definitely easy on the eyes and she really didn't need her dad embarrassing her before she even knew him. She was sure that she could embarrass herself enough on her own._

_"You'll always be little to me, honey," George commented, squeezing her shoulder._

_"Maybe Ray could show you around," Jean suggested, taking a very expensive lamp away from one of the movers. Jean couldn't help but smile. She knew puppy love when she saw it. After all, her husband was a direct result of her first puppy love._

_"No pressure or anything," Catherine joked. She didn't want Ray to feel as if he had to spend time with her, even though she desperately wanted to spend time with him._

_"I'd love to," Ray said. "I was about to go get some pizza. Would you like to come? I could introduce you to some of my friends and show you around a little bit."_

_Catherine looked up at her father with pleading eyes._

_Her father smiled. "Alright, honey, but don't be gone long. We've got a lot of unpacking to do."_

_"Thanks, dad!" She exclaimed._

_Ray and Catherine walked off down the street._

_"So, do you like music?" Ray asked. _

-----

"We were each other's type since the moment we laid eyes on each other. You can't deny that," Catherine said.

"I wasn't going to deny it," Ray replied. "But things change, Catherine. I've changed. My priorities have changed."

"I get it. You're a doctor now and you're all responsible, but that doesn't change who you are….or what you like."

"I have to go to work," Ray said, standing up and walking out of the kitchen.

Neela stormed out of the trauma room, ripping her gloves off of her hands. She threw them on the floor as she stomped away.

"Wait, Neela!" Tony yelled after her.

Neela spun around angrily. She was having a very long day. After getting to work more than an hour early just so she could avoid seeing both Catherine and Ray in the morning, she had already been called down to four traumas, none of which needed surgery.

"That's it, Tony!" Neela yelled, placing her hands on her hips. "That is it!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Stop calling me down to look at a patient because you want to chitchat with me when you know damn well that the patient doesn't need surgery! In case you forgot, we are through!"

"That patient presented with signs of…"

"Bull!" Neela shouted. "Your patient is fine. If you just did a bloody ultrasound, you would have figured that out without wasting my bloody time!"

"The ultrasound may not have picked it up if he was bleeding internally."

"He was not a surgical candidate and you know it! I am not your personal surgery bitch!" Everyone in the hallway began to stare at them, but Neela didn't care. She was angry, not so much at Tony, but at the world. "I've got patients who actually need my help! I don't have time to come down here and play doctor with you!"

"Who pissed in your cereal this morning?" Tony replied loudly.

"No one because my boyfriend didn't pick any more cereal up after his ex-girlfriend ate it all!" She blurted out.

Seething with anger, Neela turned around and headed for the elevators. She punched the button forcefully and stood there, tapping her foot on the ground, waiting for the elevator to reach her floor. When it opened, she rushed inside. As the doors closed, she sunk to the floor and began to cry.

As Ray walked through the ambulance bay and through the automatic doors that led into the ER hours later, he couldn't help but think about the conversation he had with Catherine over breakfast. Could Neela have been right? Did Catherine really still have feelings for him?

Ray tried to shake the feeling as he walked past the admin desk.

"Hey Ray, you and Neela have a fight or something?" Pratt asked from behind the desk.

"Why? What's up?"

"She came down here this morning and totally lost it on Gates. She is not in a good mood today."

"Yeah, well, that makes two of us," Ray muttered.

"Is everything alright?"

"Everything's fine," Ray lied, walking away.

As soon as he dropped his stuff off in the lounge, he headed straight for the elevators. He knew that he should report back to the desk and start working on patients, but he had to talk to Neela. He hit the up button and rode the elevator up to surgery.

"I'm looking for Doctor Rasgotra," Ray said to the first nurse he saw when he walked on the floor.

"She's about to go into surgery," the nurse reported. "OR four."

"Thanks," Ray replied. He began to hurry over to the right room. When he opened the door, he saw Neela standing at the large sink, washing her hands from elbow to finger tip with disinfectant, yellow soap.

"I've got a surgery," she said simply, hoping that he would just leave her alone.

"I know, but we've got to talk, Neela." Neela began scrubbing her arms more vigorously than usual. "I know that you're angry with me…"

"I'm tired of arguing, Ray," she admitted, turning towards him. "And I'm tired of being angry. I went to bed angry. I woke up this morning and I was still angry. I came to work angry and I just…I'm tired of being angry."

"So what do we do now?"

Neela shook her head.

"I don't know. All I know is…I haven't been happy since she moved in, Ray."

Neela was proud of herself for finally saying what had been on her mind all this time. It hurt Ray to know that she was so unhappy, but he realized that deep down inside, he had already known of her unhappiness and he had just ignored it.

"I've missed…us," she added.

"I've missed us, too, but I can't just kick her out."

"I know, but we have to figure out something. I can't go on like this. We can't go on like this."

A nurse opened the door and poked her head into the room.

"Dr. Rasgotra," she said, "the patient is prepped and ready."

"I'll be right there," Neela replied.

The nurse closed the door.

"We can talk later," Ray decided, knowing that Neela was busy and that this wasn't the right place and time. He was just happy that they seemed to be on the path to communication. "What time is your shift over?"

"I'm working a double so not until eleven," she answered. She suddenly wished she hadn't agreed to work such long hours. When she had signed up for the shift, she had done so because she wanted to stay away from the apartment and Catherine for as long as possible, but she now just wanted to go home and be with Ray so that they could figure out what to do.

"My shifts over at seven…I could wait for you."

"No, don't bother. I never know when I'm going to get out of here. I'll just see you at home."

"Okay. We're okay, right?"

"Yeah, we're okay."

Ray leaned in and kissed her lightly on the lips.

"I love you," he said.

"I love you, too," she replied, washing the yellow soap off of her hands and arms.

Author's Note:

This one was a little more difficult to write because, quite honestly, after I wrote the last one, I didn't know where I wanted to go with the story. I mean, I have a basic idea of things I'd like to come, but I just didn't know what I wanted to happen after the big fight. But, I sat down and I just started writing and I kind of just went with whatever came out. I know this one was a little more boring, but, I promise, there's some more angst to come so stay tuned!


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Ray glanced at the time on the cable box for the hundredth time. It was 11:15 and Neela still wasn't home. Of course, Ray hadn't expected her to be, but he was still anxious. He knew that even if her shift did end at eleven, and, even if she somehow did manage to get out on time, she still had to catch the train home, which meant that the earliest she could possibly be home would be 11:30. That is, if she got out on time, which was almost impossible when it came to the hospital.

As Ray counted down the minutes until Neela would be home, Catherine walked out of her room and sat down next to Ray on the couch. She picked up the remote control off the coffee table and began flipping through the channels. Ray didn't notice.

"You used to hate it when I did that," Catherine said, finally stopping on a channel, even though she didn't know what was on. She didn't really want to watch TV anyway.

"What?" Ray asked, coming out of his daze.

"You hated it when I would change the channel when you were watching TV," Catherine explained.

"I wasn't really watching," Ray replied, shifting in his seat so that she was not sitting as close to him. He began to notice her tendency to be near him all the time and it made him uncomfortable.

"You okay?" Catherine questioned.

"I'm just waiting for Neela," Ray answered.

"You two still in a fight?"

"We're not fighting," he insisted.

Ray silently wished that Catherine would leave him alone and make herself scarce. He knew that Neela would not be happy if she came home and Catherine was around. They needed time to themselves to communicate and decide together what they should do about Catherine. Besides, he too had noticed that it had been a long time since they had so much as kissed, and he was ready to remedy the situation.

"Look, Ray…what I said earlier…"

"You don't have to apologize," Ray cut her off.

"I wasn't going to apologize," Catherine responded, perturbed. "The way I see it, I have nothing to apologize for."

"Catherine…"

"Just hear me out, Ray," she interrupted. "When we were together in high school I thought we'd be together forever. And when we both went away to college, and we decided to break it off, I told myself that I was okay with us not being together because I knew that it was time to move on. I've been saying that to myself for the past nine years. I've been trying to convince myself that I wasn't still in love with you but I always have been."

"What about your boyfriend you moved to Chicago with? Didn't you love him? What about all the other boyfriends I'm sure you've had over the last nine years?"

"They don't matter to me. They never mattered to me as much as you did. Even when I was with them, all I could think about was you. I tried so hard to forget about you, but then I saw you again. And that's when I knew that I couldn't pretend anymore. I knew that I couldn't let you go again."

Ray turned his body to face her. For the first time, he realized that Neela was right. Catherine was still in love with him and he had to set her straight.

"For a long time, Catherine, after we went to college, I felt the same way. I wasn't sure if I'd ever find someone to love like I loved you, but we were young and…"

"Don't say that," Catherine said as a tear fell down her cheek. "Everyone always said that we were too young and that we didn't know what love was, but I never believed them. We were in love."

"Yes, we were, but it's different now. We're not the same people we used to be." Ray took her hand in his, trying to let her down gently. "Catherine, you will always have a special place in my heart, but I don't love you. I love…"

"Don't say her name," Catherine interrupted. "She's not good enough for you."

"You're wrong."

"You can't tell me that you don't miss being with someone who loves the same things you love and who has more in common with you." Catherine leaned in towards him. She lowered her voice. "You can't tell me that you don't miss us. That you don't miss this."

Catherine bridged the gap between them and put her lips to his. She put her arm around his neck and put her hand at the back of his head, holding it there so he couldn't pull away. Ray's mind spun. He knew that he should break apart their kiss, but there was something so comfortable about the kiss, that he couldn't.

"Oh…my God," Neela stuttered. Her breathing became labored and staggered. She couldn't catch her breath.

Ray immediately pulled away from Catherine and stood up. Neela was standing in the doorway, tears streaming down her face. She stared at Ray with a pained look on her face.

"Neela, it's not what you think," Ray stammered, walking over to her. Neela took a step back. "Neela." He reached out for her arm and she fled down the hallway. Ray immediately raced after her. "Wait!" She began to race down the stairs. "Neela!"

He grabbed for her arm. His fingers enclosed around her wrist.

"Let go of me!" She shouted, not able to look him in the eye.

"Let me explain."

"There's nothing to explain. I saw it all very clearly," she shouted, trying to wriggle free from his grasp.

"Please, just come back upstairs, please."

"This was all a game to you, wasn't it? Be with me and screw your ex-girlfriend on the side and see how long it would take you to get caught?"

"You know that that's not true! Neela, I love you."

"Save it."

"I didn't kiss her, Neela! She kissed me!"

"You're hurting me," Neela stated, looking down at her arm. Ray hadn't realized just how tightly he had been holding her. He immediately let her go, pained by the fact that he physically hurt her and that he was the reason she was crying.

"Please, let's just talk," Ray begged.

"It's over, Ray," Neela said. "It's over."

"It can't be over. Neela, I love you."

"If you truly loved me, this would never have happened. Good bye, Ray."

She ran down the rest of the stairs and out of the apartment. Ray stood on the stairs, unable to move.

"Well, she overreacted," Catherine said, walking out of the apartment. "She seems to do that a lot."

"Get out, Catherine," Ray snarled.

"What?"

Ray stood up to face her. "Get out!"

"Ray…"

"I want you out now!"

Neela stood at the door and waited, praying that Abby was home. She didn't know where else to go. All she knew was that she couldn't go home. She couldn't bear to see Ray. More than that, she knew she couldn't stand it if she saw Ray and Catherine together.

Seconds later, the door opened and Kovac stood before her.

"Neela? It's past midnight, what's going…"

Neela couldn't help but break down again. She had managed to regain her composure as she boarded the train near her apartment, or, her ex-apartment now, but, as she stood facing him, she couldn't help but cry.

"Come on in," Kovac beckoned.

Neela stepped inside and closed the door behind them.

"Is Abby here?" Neela managed to say between sobs.

"Yeah, she's just changing," Kovac answered, not really knowing what to do with Neela. Although he considered her a friend, he just didn't know what he could do for her. He was never really comfortable around crying women. "Are you alright?"

"Yes…no…I don't know," Neela slumped down on the couch.

"I'll get Abby."

Kovac quickly disappeared into the bedroom. A minute later, Abby appeared in her pajamas, obviously ready for bed.

"Neela?" She walked over to the couch and sat down beside her. "What's wrong?"

Again, Neela broke down, burying her head in her hands.

"Ray and I…we broke up."

"What? Why? What happened?"

"I came home…they were kissing," Neela sobbed.

"Ray and Catherine?" Neela didn't even bother to answer. "Oh, sweetheart, I'm so sorry."

"All this time, I trusted him. I mean, I knew that Catherine was in love with him and that he didn't want to admit it, but I still trusted him. And now, now it all makes sense. How could I have been so stupid?"

"You're not stupid, Neela," Abby soothed.

"Anyone else would have seen it. Anyone else would have never have let her move in. Anyone else would have…"

"You can't blame yourself."

"How can I not?" Neela picked her head up and wiped her tears with the back of her hand. "And the most annoying thing," she said, "is I…I still love him. I keep seeing the image of…of them in my mind playing over and over again, but I still love him. It would be so much easier if I could loathe his very existence, but I can't."

"Then why did you break up with him?"

"He was kissing another woman! He was kissing a woman he told me he didn't love anymore!"

"I'm not saying that your reaction was wrong…"

"Then what are you saying?" Neela snapped. She hated that she was yelling at Abby, especially since she knew that Abby was just trying to help, but she couldn't help herself. "What would you have done?"

"I don't honestly know, Neela. But I do know that I think you should think about it. Take some time. Sleep on it. Don't throw away your future because of one mistake."

"What if it wasn't just one mistake? What if this has been going on and I've been too naïve to realize it. Or maybe I did realize it. Maybe in my subconscious I knew it this whole time and I just trusted him too much."

"You can't jump to conclusions. You don't know what happened, Neela. And you won't know until you talk to him."

"I can't talk to him."

"I'm not saying you have to do it now. Like I said, sleep on it. You worked a double today and you've been working non-stop and worrying about Catherine for the last two weeks. You need to rest. Your mind will be clearer in the morning. Then you can decide what to do."

"What would I do without you?"

"Probably be really, really drunk by now."

Neela cracked a smile as Abby squeezed Neela's hand.

"And, of course," Abby added, "you can stay here."

"No, Abby. You and Luka have your own…"

"You're staying," Abby insisted.

Neela smiled. "Thank you," she replied.

"You're welcome. Let me get you some sheets and something to sleep in."

As Abby stood up to get some bedding for the couch, there was a pounding at the door.

Author's Note:

Again, this was one of those chapters that I knew had to happen. It was just a matter of getting there. I really enjoyed writing this chapter because I really do love writing (and reading) angst and it's fun to write a malicious, evil character for once. Please comment!


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

As Neela sat on Abby's couch, her head buried in her hands, the knock came again. She knew exactly who it was and she wondered if she would be strong enough to face him.

-----

9 Months, 19 Days Earlier

_Neela stood at the door, balancing a heavy box against the wall and her knee. She had been standing there for almost five straight minutes, not moving. Her leg was beginning to cramp, but she didn't move. She was equally as excited as she was terrified._

_As soon as Neela had returned to her hotel room after meeting Ray in the bar, she had flopped down on the hard hotel mattress and wondered what she was thinking. What had possessed her to agree to move in with him? What had even possessed her to sit down and talk to him after their long bout of silence? She had blamed her quick decisions on the alcohol she had consumed and, of course, Ray's goofy smile that always managed to make her melt, but she knew it was more than that. She wanted to live with him again because she missed him. And she knew that she missed him as more than a friend. It was as simple as that. And yet, it was terribly complicated._

_Neela took a deep breath, raised her hand, and knocked on the door. The sound of her fist against the hard wood resonated through the hallways. As the door opened, she let out the breath she didn't know she had been holding._

"_Hey," Ray said simply._

_She didn't know what she expected, but that wasn't it. His greeting seemed much too simple for their situation and yet, it fit._

"_Hi," she replied._

_Ray couldn't believe that Neela was actually standing before him. He never really thought the day would ever come that she actually moved back in, even though he had thought about it, even dreamed about it, since the night she had gotten in that taxi and driven away from him. After a while, he had all but given up, but there she was, standing before him._

_When Ray had returned from the bar the night before, he triumphantly grabbed another beer, even though he was already a little buzzed, and sprawled out on the sofa. He immediately turned on the television and began to flip through the channels until he found what he was looking for. Celebrity poker – Neela's favorite show. Ray never understood how a person could find watching poker entertaining, but after Neela had left, he found himself watching it more and more because it reminded him of her. Eventually, he had found it to be just as entertaining as she did._

_In the morning, less buzzed and more with a hangover, Ray wondered if he had hallucinated the whole thing. Had he really acted so boldly as to ask Neela to move in again? And had she actually said yes?_

_As he stared into her eyes, he knew the answer. And he finally knew the answer to the question he had asked himself since the moment she had moved in the first time. Yes, he loved her, not as a friend, but as the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with._

"_Here, let me help you," Ray offered. _

_He took the box from her. Their hands brushed together for only a split second, but they both felt a sudden bolt of electricity flow through their bodies._

"_I've got some more things in the car," Neela said, turning around, trying to ignore the feeling. It was that feeling that had gotten her into trouble in the first place._

"_I'll…ah…put this in your room and be right down to help."_

_With her back towards him, Neela grinned. She liked the sound of Ray referring to the room as hers again._

"_Oh, and one more thing," he added._

_Neela turned around, trying to hide the smile that was forcing its way onto her lips. She watched as Ray pulled something out of his pocket and he tossed the object to her. She caught it and looked at it._

"_Welcome back, roomie," he said as she stared at the small, metal key in the palm of her hand._

-----

How had one knock so many months ago meant so much hope and the pounding Neela heard today meant so much despair?

Abby looked over at Neela, knowing very well that it was Ray who stood on the other side of the door. She also knew that he would stand there all night, knocking until his knuckles began to bleed if it came to that, and Abby needed at least a few hours of sleep.

"Neela?" Abby asked, trying to get some sign as to what Neela wanted her to do.

"I don't want to talk to him," Neela said quietly, sniffling.

There was a pounding at the door yet again, this time louder. Abby sighed deeply.

"Neela, I really think…"

"I'm going to use the bathroom," Neela said, standing up. She walked out of the room towards the bathroom.

Abby went to the door, knowing what she had to do. She opened it only slightly.

"Is she here?" Ray demanded. His eyes were puffy and his face was red. He had obviously been crying.

"She doesn't want to talk to you right now, Ray."

"Please, Abby," he begged.

Abby shook her head, even though her mind screamed for her to let him in. She believed in their relationship. She knew that they were more in love than any two people she had ever known and that they belonged together. She hated to see them lose each other over a mistake.

"Just go home, Ray. You can talk tomorrow."

"I love her."

"I know."

"It took us so long to get where we are. I wouldn't just throw that away. Abby, please…"

"I believe you, Ray, but…" She looked into his eyes and sighed. "She's going to kill me."

Abby opened the door and stepped back. Ray entered the apartment and Abby closed the door. She placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and headed off to her bedroom.

"Don't shout too loudly," she said smiling, "Joe's already asleep."

"Thank you, Abby," Ray replied.

Abby disappeared into her room. As Ray meandered over towards the couch, he heard a door open and Neela appeared seconds later.

"Get out," Neela commanded.

She felt her eyes begin to well with tears and her mind raced. She wanted to run into his arms and never let go. She wanted to feel his touch and smell his familiar scent, but she didn't move. She couldn't forget what she had just seen, less than an hour before.

"Just hear me out," Ray pleaded.

"I can't do this right now."

"And I can't not do this right now. Neela, nothing ever happened between me and Catherine."

"How can you say that to me? How can you say that after what I saw?"

"I didn't want that to happen, Neela. You were right. All this time, you've been right. She was still in love with me. And I was too blind to see it. I just wanted to be a good friend to her, but I couldn't see what that was doing to you…to us and I'm so sorry."

He took a step towards her and she took a step back. She felt a tear roll down her cheek and she wiped it away.

"Whether you wanted it to happen or not…it did. I can forgive you for the kiss and I can forgive you for not seeing that she was in love with you, but you took her side over mine. You put her over me. You put her over our relationship." She paused. "You hurt me, Ray."

"I never meant to hurt you."

Neela let her tears flow freely.

"Do you know what it was like to have such a…perfect woman living with us? I could never compete with her, Ray. She's drop dead gorgeous. She's a walking Barbie doll and she always looks bloody perfect even when she's sweating to those bloody exercise tapes in our living room! And you two have everything in common. She likes music and bowling and movies and playing the guitar. She is everything that I'm not. And she is everything that you could ever want in a woman."

She sniffled, but continued.

"And it hurts to know that. Even before Catherine, every time I thought about all of the women you could have, I wondered when my time was going to be up. I wondered how long it would take you to find someone better than me. And then she appeared. Your perfect woman appeared and I realized, more than ever, that I could never be that for you. I could never be everything you ever wanted. I could never be your perfect woman."

If Ray's heart wasn't completely broken before, it broke into a million pieces. Hearing what Neela was thinking felt like a knife plunging into his heart. How had he let it get this far? How had he managed to make the most perfect, amazing woman in the world feel so completely worthless? He nearly collapsed to his knees.

For a moment, he couldn't speak. He didn't know if he could put into words exactly what he was feeling.

"You don't know what you do to me," he said quietly minutes later. "You don't know how incredibly beautiful you are. And that naivety is what makes so beautiful. Neela, you don't know that just looking at you makes my heart skip a beat. Seeing your smile…touching your skin…gazing into your eyes…you are the most beautiful woman I've ever known." He swallowed a hard lump in his throat. "You are the one who's perfect. I don't care that you don't like music or guitars or bowling…our relationship is so much deeper than that. You make me a better person. You make me a better doctor, a better friend, a better lover." He stopped to collect his thoughts. "It's not that she is everything you're not, Neela. You are everything she's not. And it's you who is everything I want. You are my perfect woman. You complete me."

Neela shook her head and began to walk away.

"Don't you hear what I'm saying?" Ray called out.

She turned around and walked over towards him. She stood so close to him that their bodies almost touched, but she couldn't touch him. If she touched him, she would lose herself and she couldn't do that. She needed to speak her mind.

"What would have happened if I hadn't walked in on you?"

"It would have ended with that kiss, Neela, I swear to you."

"And even if that were true, what would have happened to us? Even if we talked about our problems like we said we would…how do we know what would have happened?" She paused. "If I had asked you to, would you have made her leave?"

"Yes," he answered quickly.

"How do I know that?"

Ray sighed.

"I didn't believe you last night, Neela, when you told me Catherine was still in love with me. So I defended her because I thought she was my friend and I felt like you were unfairly jumping to conclusions. But something changed tonight. It finally became clear to me that what you were saying was true. She is still in love with me. I know I should have seen it sooner, I know I should have listened to you, but I didn't and I'm sorry. But knowing that now, realizing now that she is in love with me and that she doesn't want us to be together, I'd make her go."

"Then why wasn't she gone by the time I got home? Why didn't you go home after work and make her leave?"

"Because I wasn't sure of everything until tonight. I know that that's not an excuse and I know that I was wrong…" She turned her back to him. "I don't know what else to say to you, Neela. What else do you want to hear?"

"I don't know, Ray."

"Then I can't say anything else except that I love you with all of my heart and all of my soul. I have never loved anyone like I love you and I will never love anyone again. I never meant to hurt you. It kills me that I've hurt you." He hung his head. "I'm so sorry for everything."

"I am too."

She took a few steps away from him. She had heard him say what she wanted to hear. She had heard him say that she was beautiful and perfect. She had heard him say that he loved her, but it wasn't enough and she just couldn't figure out why.

"I do love you, Ray, but I'm angry and I'm hurt. I just…I can't be with you right now. I need time."

"Then I'll give you all the time you need."

Ray wanted so desperately to walk over to her, pull her against him, and hug her more tightly than he had ever hugged her before, but he didn't. He simply turned around and headed for the door.

"Just remember that I'll be waiting for you. I'll wait for you until the end of time."

He opened the door and left. When the door closed behind him, Neela fell onto the couch and she cried openly.

Author's Note: First of all, I have to say that I took some of the dialogue (maybe 3 or 4 lines) for the big fight sequence in this chapter direct from the Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman episode that inspired this story in the first place. So, therefore, I mean no copyright infringement on Dr. Quinn and its script from the episode, "Another Woman." With that being said, this was another chapter that had been kind of floating around in my head for a while so I was quite happy when I finally sat down to write it. I apologize if it's a little sappy, but I've been reading Nora Roberts romance novels like they're going out of style. Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter and please don't forget to comment!


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Ray shoved his key into the key hole, opened the door, and stepped into the dark apartment. He felt hopeless and lost. The apartment felt empty without her.

Wiping a tear from his cheek, he immediately headed for the kitchen to drown his sorrows in some sort of alcoholic beverage. He stopped when he heard the sound of running water.

"Catherine?" He called out.

"In the bathroom," she replied.

Ray's face grew red out of anger. He hadn't been kidding when he demanded that she leave. He hadn't even considered that she wouldn't be gone when he returned home. She had caused him more pain than anyone ever had before and he never wanted to see her again.

Ray forgot all about the alcohol he had been thinking about drinking and marched to the bathroom. The door was slightly ajar and he pushed it open.

"I was wondering what took you so long," Catherine said. "Care to join me?"

Ray immediately turned away. The bathroom was lit with candles and smelled of lavender. It reminded Ray too much of when he had returned home on his and Neela's six month anniversary, only this time, it wasn't the right woman in the bathtub.

The bubbles that had been in the tub had begun to dissolve and the only thing covering Catherine was her long, blonde hair.

"Get out, Catherine," Ray snarled, keeping his back towards her.

"It's okay, Ray, you can look," she replied, giggling.

"I don't want to look, Catherine."

"It's nothing you haven't seen before."

"I said get out, Catherine!"

"As you wish," she said. She stood up and out of the tub. "Could you hand me my robe?"

Ray spotted the robe to his right. He shielded his eyes and picked up the robe. He held it out to her and she took it.

"Okay, I'm decent," she said a minute later. Ray slowly turned around. "Oops." Catherine let go of the robe's belt and the robe fell open. Ray immediately brought his hands to his eyes, covering them.

"Why are you doing this, Catherine?"

"Doing what?" She asked innocently as she tied up her robe.

"Damn it, Catherine. You know exactly what!"

"I'm doing you a favor?"

"Favor?" Ray let his hand down from his eyes, not caring what he saw. "Favor? You have ruined everything!"

"Believe me, in a little while, you'll be thanking me," she insisted. "You're not meant to be with that little whore."

"What did you call her?"

"Face it, Ray. First she runs off and gets married to a man she barely knows and then she sleeps around with some guy who's already got a family. She's nothing more than a little home wrecker is what she is. And those are only the guys you know about. Who else has she been sleeping around with? She says she's always working, but that's just a code word for screwing someone else. I doubt she was even faithful to her husband. What makes you think she'd be faithful to you?"

It took all of Ray's strength not to lunge at her.

"You don't know her, Catherine! You don't know me! And I don't know you anymore! The Catherine I knew wouldn't do this. The Catherine I knew was a decent human being!"

"But I love you, Ray," Catherine insisted. "And she's not good enough for you. You need someone like me."

"You are nothing compared to her."

"I'd have to disagree. Intelligence is only so attractive, Ray." She took a step towards him and ran her hand against his cheek. "Eventually, you'll need a real woman and I am that woman."

"Get out, Catherine!"

"I'll give you some time to cool off." She grabbed his arm and pulled her towards him. She leaned her cheek against his. "I promise you," she whispered in his ear, "you won't even remember her name after you finally admit your true feelings and you find your way into my bed."

Catherine let go of him and walked out of the room.

"I want you out, Catherine!" Ray shouted. "I want you out now!"

"I don't know what you're talking about, baby!" Catherine yelled back from what Ray guessed was her bedroom.

"I'm not kidding, Catherine. I will call the police!"

"And tell them what? That you're trying to evict your girlfriend?"

"You are not my girlfriend!"

"I will be soon enough."

He heard her bedroom door slam and he slumped down on the wet, bathroom floor. He felt like he was drowning. He knew that he could call the police and have her forcefully removed, but what would that accomplish? Ray knew that she would just return again to ruin his life. He would have to deal with her himself, and for that, he needed a plan. He needed a plan that first and foremost gave him the one thing he couldn't live without – Neela.

Some six hours later, Neela was attempting to review a patient's chart in the surgical lounge, even though she hadn't slept a wink through the night. For an hour after Ray had left Abby's apartment, Abby had sat with her and comforted her, having heard the whole argument. Armed with an ice cream sundae, Abby assured her that everything was going to be alright and, like Neela had said, they just needed time and then things would go back to normal. After Neela allowed herself to cry on her friend's shoulder for the hour, she insisted that Abby go to bed. Neela knew that they both had a morning shift and Abby had Joe to worry about. That hadn't meant that Neela had gone to bed, though. Instead, she had stayed up with a bottle of wine and a box of tissues.

Neela tried to figure out what exactly she was most upset about. Even though their fight had been draining and hurtful, it had ended on her terms so she should have at least been somewhat happy about that. She knew that he loved her and she loved him, but that didn't comfort her. There was still something that bothered her above all else. She was obviously upset that she had seen Ray and Catherine kissing and that Ray hadn't believed her when she pointed out that Catherine was still in love with him, but that wasn't what bothered her most.

It took Neela four glasses of wine and almost two hours before she figured out that what was bothering her most was that she really didn't know if Ray would have made Catherine leave. He had told her that he would, but that didn't mean that it would have happened. Whether or not Ray believed that Catherine was in love with him shouldn't have mattered, Neela realized. From her point of view, all that should have mattered was that she had asked him to make Catherine leave and he hadn't. As she had pointed out, he had put Catherine higher on his list of priorities than Neela was. Whether he meant to, or had any motives for doing so, didn't matter. He had still done it and she felt hurt because of it. If he had done it with Catherine, how many other things in life would Ray put in front of their relationship?

With more than a slight hangover, Neela had shown up at work on time as usual. She had had hangovers in the past and had always managed to function well at work, but this one was worse. It wasn't worse because she had consumed more alcohol as usual, it was because she was emotionally drained and her heart was aching.

Realizing that she had just been staring at the patient's chart, rather than reading it, Neela stood up. She poured herself a cup of day-old coffee and then flopped down again on the couch she had been sitting on. She ran her hands over the worn fabric.

-----

3 Months, 3 Days Earlier

_Her lips moved as she read the notes that she had handwritten that morning on the 5x4 inch index cards. She knew that she should have prepared the presentation much earlier, but every time she went to work on it, Ray had distracted her. Not that she minded._

_Neela closed her eyes, trying to remember what she had just read. Giving the presentation at the staff meeting would have been much easier if she knew that her superiors wouldn't be listening to her every word. She had been assigned the presentation by Crenshaw, who stated that learning to present to ones colleagues was just as important as being in the operating room. The presentation was about extending the surgical budget so that they could afford more up to date equipment. Neela knew that her request would be denied, no matter how great a speech she gave, but it was just another hoop she had to jump through._

_As she heard the door open, Neela opened her eyes._

_"How's it going?" Ray asked, sitting next to her on the sofa._

_Neela shrugged. "It's going," she replied._

_"What time's the presentation?"_

_"In about two hours."_

_"You'll do fine," he assured her, kissing her on the forehead._

_"What are you doing up here?" She questioned._

_"ER's been pretty slow. I figured I'd come up here to see if you needed a break."_

_"The ER slow? On the fourth of July? What? No one's blown off their hand shooting fireworks yet?"_

_"Not yet. Although, we have had our fair share of patients with heat stroke and food poisoning. The fire work accident won't come until the sun goes down."_

_"And that is why I'm glad I switched to surgery."_

_"You're glad you switched to surgery because you get to sew the hands back on when they get blown off."_

_Neela smiled. "No argument here."_

_"I've missed you today," Ray said, putting his arm around her shoulder._

_"I've missed you, too."_

_"And I missed you last night," he added, nibbling at her ear. "I don't think either of us should work doubles anymore."_

_"Oh? And why's that?"_

_"Because I don't like sleeping without you."_

_"You sure it's the sleeping you miss?"_

_"Well, maybe it's not exactly the sleeping that's my favorite part," he whispered into her ear. He kissed her deeply._

_"Come on, Ray, I've got to practice this," she said with as much effort as she could muster. She really didn't want him to stop._

_"You don't need to practice. You're already perfect enough as it is."_

_He began to work on the knot in the drawstring of her pants, not taking his lips off of hers the whole time._

_"Someone could walk in at any minute," she persisted._

_"Then won't they be surprised," he mumbled, lying down and pulling her on top of him._

-----

Neela remembered the memory fondly, but it only made her present situation more difficult. They had made love without interruption on the old, hard couch and Neela had gone on to make a stellar presentation. She didn't get the money from the budget she had asked for, but her actual presentation was flawless. The only downside was, her perfect presentation made for a bad case when she would try to keep Ray from distracting her. After that, he had insisted that he was her good luck charm.

Neela blinked away tears and tried to turn her attention back to her patient's chart. She jumped when she heard her beeper go off. She unclipped it from the waistband of her scrubs. She looked at it and sighed. It was the ER. She only hoped that she wouldn't run into him while she was down there. She wasn't sure if she could take it if she did.

Author's Note: I'm sure if you didn't hate Catherine already, you really hate her now! I'm actually having a lot of fun writing such an evil character (even if she and I do share the same name). Anyway, thanks for reading and please comment!


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

"Someone paged me," Neela announced, walking by the admin desk. She barely looked where she was going, instead looking around to see if the coast was clear. She just couldn't bear walking into Ray.

"Pratt needs you in two," Frank replied.

Neela hurried over to trauma two. By the time she pushed through the swinging doors, she had already put on a pair of latex gloves and, despite her headache, was ready to jump into action.

"What have we got?" She asked.

She began to look over the unconscious patient. He was bleeding slightly from the chest. Neela glanced at the monitors that surrounded him. She quickly read the numbers and stared at the blipping screen. So far, so good.

"GSW to the belly," Pratt answered.

Neela examined the patient, ignoring the commotion that went on around her. As an ER doctor, she had gotten used to all of the people who were involved in a trauma. She began pushing on the patient's stomach in specific areas, waiting to see if she felt anything or if there was any kind of response from the unconscious patient.

"Have you ordered any films?" She asked.

"They're on their way," a nurse answered.

"What about the bullet?" She questioned.

"It went right through," Pratt answered.

A nurse handed Neela the patient's films. Neela held them up to the light and looked them over quickly. Pratt stood beside her, looking at them, as well.

"Looks like it missed all major organs and arteries," Neela observed. "He's not a surgical candidate."

"He was lucky," Pratt commented.

"Call me if anything changes."

Neela began to take off her gloves. Her job was done. The man didn't need surgery. She threw her gloves on the ground.

"Thanks, Neela," Pratt called out after her.

Neela pushed open the doors and walked out into the hallway.

"Hey," an all too familiar voice said.

Neela looked up. Ray was standing just a foot away. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw him. She hadn't realized how much she missed him. Or, she had realized it and just didn't want to admit it.

"Hi," she responded quietly.

She kept walking.

"Do we have to do this?" He asked, following her.

"Do what?"

"This whole not speaking to each other nonsense."

"We're speaking right now."

"You know what I mean."

"I told you I needed time."

Ray reached for her elbow, stopping her from walking.

"I know. I just want you to know that Catherine is…"

"Hey Neela!"

Ray let go of Neela's arm and she spun around. Tony was standing behind her.

"What's up?" She asked, thankful for the interruption.

Ray was more than perturbed at the interruption and at the fact that Neela seemed so interested in talking to Tony rather than to him. If it had been anyone else but Tony, he wouldn't have minded being cut off, but just seeing him and Neela talking made him jealous.

"I've got a patient in four who needs a consult," he answered.

Tony walked off towards exam four and Neela followed. Ray stood where he was, not moving.

"Hey, you okay?" Abby asked, walking up behind him.

Ray shrugged.

"What do you expect?" He retorted.

"Look, Ray, I know you're hurting. And I know that you never meant to hurt her."

"Does this conversation have a point, Abby, because I'm really not in the mood for any cheering up?" As he said the words, he regretted them. He knew that she was only trying to help, but he was just too angry to care. He was angry at Catherine for coming back into his life. He was angry at Neela for going off with Tony. And he was angry at himself for being plain stupid.

"It's just…you know that Neela and I are friends," Abby explained, "and, no matter what, I'll be on her side, but I want you to know that I believe you." She put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "She'll come around, Ray, just give it time."

"How do you know? How do you know she'll come around?"

"Because you're in love."

"Sometimes love isn't enough."

Ray turned and walked away. Abby watched him go, hanging her head. She had always considered herself to be Neela's friend, but as she saw him walk away, she realized that she cared for him like a brother and she hated seeing him hurt.

Down the hallway, Neela and Tony came to a stop in front of exam four. Neela tried to push the door open but Tony stood in front of her, blocking the door.

"I thought you had a patient?" Neela asked.

"I do."

"Then why are we standing out here?"

"You're not going to yell at me?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh come on, the last time I asked you for a surgery consult, you basically bit my head off. Now you come with me with no argument? What's up Mayday?"

She didn't respond like she usually did, telling him not to call her that. Instead, she just stared at the floor with her arms crossed over her chest.

"And you're not even going to yell at me for calling you that? Are you sick, Mayday?"

He put the back of his hand against her forehead, jokingly checking to see if she was warm. She didn't react and that surprised him. He expected her to push him away, but she just stood there, allowing him to touch her.

"It's because I saved you from talking to loverboy, isn't it?" Gates continued. Again, Neela didn't reply. "Or is it ex-loverboy now?"

"My relationship is none of your concern."

"So it is ex. You two get into a fight or something?"

"Tony…"

"It wasn't about me was it?" He asked sarcastically, taking a step closer to her.

"Do you have a patient or are you just trying to annoy me?"

"He can wait," Tony said quietly, leaning in to whisper in her ear.

"Either you have a patient you want me to look at or I'm going back upstairs," Neela stated.

On any other day, she would have already walked away from him, but she didn't want to walk back through the ER and run into Ray. She just wouldn't be able to take it.

Giving in, Tony opened the door.

"Victor Lupino, age 26," Tony explained as they both walked into the room.

Neela glanced at the patient. It wasn't his wounds that surprised her, it was his appearance. His entire body, or at least what Neela could see of it, was completely tattooed, including most of his face. He had a two foot, bright blue Mohawk on the top of his head and earrings coming out of every place possible.

"Professional circus performer at your service," he said, shaking Neela's hand. As he spoke, Neela noticed that his tongue was split much like that of a snake.

"And what seems to be the trouble, Mr. Lupino?"

"Please, call me Vic," he replied.

"Vic here swallowed twenty, one inch nails," Tony explained.

"Excuse me?" Neela asked, taken aback.

"It's part of my new act," Vic continued.

Tony picked up an X-Ray of Vic's stomach and held it up for Neela to see.

"All twenty nails are lodged in the walls of his stomach," Tony concluded.

"Normally when I swallow something they pass within twenty-four hours," Vic announced somewhat triumphantly like he was proud of his ability to swallow and pass strange objects.

"These won't be passing any time soon," Neela stated. "They're going to have to be surgically removed or you could bleed to death."

"I told you you'd want to see this guy," Tony said.

"Will I have a scar?" Vic questioned.

"A slight one, yes," Neela answered.

"Cool," he replied.

The surgery took a little over four hours. As Neela slid the blue surgical cap off of her head and threw it on the ground, she couldn't help but wonder what would possess someone to swallow nails. She had seen a lot of things in her short career as a doctor, but this would definitely be a case she'd always remember.

Neela pulled off her surgical gown and let it fall to the floor with her cap. After she was congratulated by the other surgeon in the room for conducting a successful surgery, she walked out of the ER feeling significantly better than when she walked into surgery. There was something about cutting someone open and saving their life that made her happy no matter how she was really feeling.

"Dr. Rasgotra, there's someone waiting for you in the family room," the OR receptionist said as Neela passed the front desk.

"Is it my patient's family?" Neela asked.

The woman shook her head. "I don't know."

"Alright, thanks Judy," Neela replied.

Smiling, she made her way to the family room, prepared to tell the person she met there good news about Vic's surgery.

As Neela opened the door, her smile faded.

"Hello Neela."

Author's Note:

Alright, I know this one was a little short, but I really needed this chapter to set me up for where I want the rest of the story to go. I honestly thought this story would have ended with Neela and Ray making up in Abby's apartment and that would have been the end of it, but I decided to keep going with it and I hope you all are enjoying it. Also, I do apologize for my lack of knowledge about doctors and traumas and things. I try my best, but I know writing medical jargon is not my strong point.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

"What are you doing here, Catherine?" Neela questioned, standing by the doorway.

She had prepared herself to tell the patient's family that he had made it through surgery well and was expected to make a full recovery, but she was not prepared for Catherine. She was the last person Neela wanted to see.

Catherine stood up from the chair she was sitting in. As always, she looked perfect with her maroon, low-cut sweater and tight fitting blue jeans that hugged her shape – a shape that Neela wished she so desperately had.

"I just wanted to talk to you. You know, woman to woman," Catherine answered.

She gestured for Neela to sit down in one of the chairs like a friend would do if you happened to run into her.

"I'll stand," Neela stated, wanting to show know sign of friendship towards Catherine.

"I know that you don't like me and I can't really blame you," Catherine began. "But you and I have more in common than you think. I've been where you are before."

"Oh? And where am I?"

"With a man you don't belong with."

The words hit Neela hard. Even after all that Ray had said to her, reminding her that he loved her. Even after he told her that her insecurities about their herself and their relationship were wrong and she had nothing to worry about, she still had them and Catherine knew just what to say to her to remind her of that.

"I mean, I wouldn't take it personally," Catherine continued. "Some men just need someone…more exciting, more adventurous, more sexy. I'll admit it, though, you and Ray made a cute couple, but you can't sustain a relationship on how cute you are together. You need more than that. You need what Ray and I have."

Neela couldn't take it anymore.

"I'm not doing this, Catherine," she said, walking out of the room.

Catherine followed her down the hallway.

"I know this is upsetting to hear. That's why I wanted to tell you in person. It's okay to admit when you're wrong and you and Ray were just…wrong together."

Neela kept walking and Catherine kept following. She didn't know where she was going, but she felt like there was nothing else to do but to keep walking. She felt defeated, although she didn't quite know why. Her heart was heavy inside her chest. She felt the water beginning to gather in her eyes. She blinked them away, telling herself that she wouldn't cry. She couldn't bear to let Catherine see her cry. She had already shed too many tears over Catherine.

"He was upset, you know," Catherine explained, "when he came home last night, but after we…let's just say, recreated the night of the junior prom, he eventually saw it my way. And for what it's worth, he's learned quite a few new tricks in the bedroom department."

She smiled and Neela whipped around. As Neela stared into her eyes that flickered with evil, she suddenly felt less defeated and she wanted nothing more than to slap the smile off of Catherine's face.

"You're a lucky girl, Neela," Catherine continued. "I mean, at least you got to experience Ray for a little. I'm sure, though, that you didn't have much to do with teaching him any of his new tricks. After all, you are quite boring."

"You're not welcome in this hospital, Catherine," Neela stated through gritted teeth. Her face was red with anger and she knew that if either she or Catherine didn't walk away soon, she wouldn't be able to control herself. Neela had always prided herself on being a calm and collected person, but this was different. This was a personal attack that she couldn't ignore.

"Get out!" Neela shouted.

"Oh, I think Ray would say differently. I should think I'll be spending quite a lot of time here now that Ray and I are back together again. I hope that doesn't make things awkward for you. I know you two have to work together and all."

Neela raised her hand and smacked Catherine hard across the face. Immediately, Catherine brought her hand to her reddened cheek and began to cry.

"You bitch!" Catherine shouted.

The few nurses in the hallway stopped and stared at them, but no one moved to come to Catherine's aid.

"Get out," Neela demanded slowly.

"You're nothing but a stupid whore and this means war. You're stuff from the apartment will be packed by tonight. You can pick it all up whenever you want."

Catherine smiled sweetly as if she was saying goodbye to a relative who had been visiting for the weekend.

"I guess I'll see you around, Neela."

Catherine turned and walked away down the hall towards the elevators, her high heels loudly clicking on the tile floor.

Neela stood in the middle of the hallway, not moving. She didn't quite know what to do with herself. She could have raced after Catherine and told her that she was wrong or simply punch her as hard as she could. Or, Neela could try to find Ray and either yell at him for the pain he hadn't meant to cause her or embrace him, telling him how sorry she was that she had been angry with him. Or, she could try to find Abby and get a second opinion.

"Dr. Rasgotra?" A nurse said, walking up to Neela, trying to see if there was anything she could do for her without admitting that she had been eavesdropping on the entire conversation.

"I'm going on break," Neela announced.

Bypassing the elevators, Neela headed straight for the stairs. She raced down them, taking two at a time. When she reached the ER, she didn't even bother to look to see if Ray was in view. She had a mission and it was as if she had blinders on to anything else that was going on.

Neela marched straight to the admin desk where she saw Abby standing.

"We need to get coffee," she demanded.

Morris, who was standing next to Abby, looked up.

"Okay," Abby replied cautiously. She looked down at her already steaming cup of coffee that she had just bought. She knew that 'getting coffee' was just code for 'we need to talk.'

"Now," Neela practically shouted.

"If you need any help, Morris, page me."

Abby took off the stethoscope that was around her neck, put it on the desk, and walked around to the front of the desk.

"You don't just get to leave whenever you want!" Morris yelled as both Neela and Abby walked through the automatic doors and into the ambulance bay. "This isn't gossip time!"

"What's going on?" Abby asked as soon as they had made it outside.

Neela hugged her arms around her body. The fall season was already in high gear and the air was chilly.

"She was here," Neela said, stopping in the middle of the street.

"Who was here?"

"Catherine."

"Catherine was here? In the ER? What'd she do, break her wrist again?"

"She came to talk to me."

"Why would she want to talk to you?"

"She wanted to make sure that there were no hard feelings between us," Neela explained angrily.

"What?"

"She explained to me that Ray and I weren't meant for each other, but that I should be okay with that because even though we're cute together, that's not enough to sustain a relationship on. She also mentioned that she and Ray were truly meant together." Neela was practically shouting. "Oh, and she told me that they recreated the bloody junior prom last night."

"Okay, now you've lost me."

"They slept together last night."

"Wait…what? Did they go to the prom or did they have sex?"

"They did both."

"Seriously, Neela, I'm confused."

"Remember how I told you that Ray and Catherine lost their virginity to each other?"

"Yeah?" Abby paused and thought about what Neela was telling her. "Oh God, they lost their virginity to each other at the junior prom?"

"After the junior prom," Neela corrected.

"Well that's just so…cliché. I mean, does that even really happen except maybe in movies?"

"When and where they first had sex and how cliché it was, is not the point of this conversation, Abby," Neela seethed.

"Do you believe her?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you believe her that she and Ray had sex last night?"

"God, Abby, I don't know."

Neela leaned her back against the wall of the ER. She allowed her body to slide down it until she was in a crouching position. She just didn't have the energy to stand anymore. Abby crouched down beside her.

"You're thinking about taking the word of a woman you know is deliberately trying to sabotage you over the man you love. Not to mention a man who has never given you any reason not to trust him."

"No reason to not trust him? Have we forgotten the kiss? Besides, Abby, you said it yourself. When I first told you Catherine was moving in, you said that I should keep an eye on Ray because guys would be guys."

"Yes, I said that, but come on, Neela, he loves you."

"And sometimes love isn't enough."

Without even realizing it, Neela had mimicked what Ray had said earlier to Abby.

"In case you forgot, I was there last night when he told you that you were the most perfect woman in the world. I was there when he practically got down on his knees and begged you to forgive him because he loves you so much and he can't live without you."

"He's a good talker."

"And you know that he meant every word of it."

"That doesn't mean he didn't sleep with her."

"And Catherine coming here and telling you that he did, doesn't mean that he actually did."

"What am I supposed to do, Abby?"

"Talk to him. Ask him."

"And if he lies?"

Abby shook her head. "You know Ray better than anyone else in this world, Neela. You have to use your own judgment. You have to decide. But don't decide too soon. You asked him to give you time, but now you need to give him time to explain."

"And what if I don't like what I hear?"

"Then I'll have Luka kick his ass."

They both smiled and hugged.

"Thank you, Abby. Oh, and there's one more thing."

"What's that?"

"I sort of slapped her."

"Sort of? Or you did?"

"I slapped her."

"Well, she had it coming. But if I were you, I would have gone for the closed fisted punch. It has the potential for leaving more of a permanent scar."

Neela laughed for the first time all day as Abby's beeper went off.

"I have to go," Abby said, looking at the number. "Let me know how it goes."

Neela nodded. Abby gave her hand a final squeeze before heading back towards the ER. Neela wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. Even though she had managed not to cry, she could still feel them stinging. She thought about what Abby had said. She did have to talk to Ray. She had to find out once and for all if their love was enough to overcome the turbulence that Catherine had caused.

"Hey Mayday, what are you doing out here?" Tony asked as he walked out of the ER and stood next to Neela.

"Just catching some fresh air," she answered, trying to sound as confident as possible.

"It's getting chilly," he said, pulling his white lab coat closer to his body.

"We're going to have a bad winter," Neela stated.

"So now you're a surgeon and a weathergirl, huh?"

"I'm just trying to make small talk."

"How about we make small talk over dinner?"

"Tony…"

"It's just dinner. Come on, ex-loverboy can't get too angry about that, can he?"

Neela opened her mouth to decline Tony's invitation, but then she thought about his proposition. If Ray knew that Neela had gone out with Tony, he would be angry. He'd probably be just as angry as Neela walking in on him and Catherine kissing. He would finally know how she was feeling.

"Okay," Neela agreed. "I'll go to dinner with you."

Tony smiled as Neela hung her head in shame.

Author's Note:

Phew…I had a hard time writing this one. This was another chapter that I wrote and then rewrote and then rewrote again. Actually, the whole ending of this story is one major rewrite. I just hope I picked the best story and story line to go with and that I didn't make a mistake rewriting the whole thing. Anyway, it was a lot of fun having Neela hit Catherine, but it pained me at the end of this to have Neela to agree to go out with Tony. Both instances, though, seemed like natural human reactions for her, so I went with them both. And, it's leading me up to a great next chapter. Which reminds me – I better start editing it!


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Ray wrapped his hand tightly around the woman's right wrist, but not tight enough to hurt her. He lifted his leg and placed his foot against the woman's shoulder. Kovac stood behind the woman, with one hand on her right shoulder and one hand on her back to brace her.

"You ready, Mrs. Graham?" Ray asked.

"Sure," she answered as casually as if she had a bone popped into place on a daily basis.

Kovac nodded to Ray.

"Okay, here we go," Ray said. "One, two, three." He pulled on the woman's arm until he heard her shoulder pop back into place. She barely flinched. Of course, they had given her plenty of pain medication, but usually the patient at least made a sound.

"You're a tough lady," Ray commented, gently folding the woman's arm across her chest. He grabbed some strips of cloth and began to wrap her arm to keep it still.

"You grow pretty big balls after working in the police force for as many years as I have," she stated.

Ray smiled at her. If only every patient were as easy as she was, his job would be much easier. He always took time to revel in the 'good' patients he had.

"Well, just keep it in a sling and come back in two days for a follow-up. I'll write you a prescription for some pain medication. Take three a day until the pain subsides." Ray scribbled down the prescription on a pad. He tore off the page and handed it to her.

"Thanks doc," she said as Ray began to help her into her jacket.

"You're welcome. We'll see you in two days."

Ray and Kovac walked away, towards the admin desk to drop off the woman's chart before beginning on the next patient.

"Good job," Kovac said.

"Thanks," Ray replied. "I popped the same bone during a little league game when I was seven. I certainly didn't take it as well as she did, though. I cried like a baby."

Ray dumped the woman's chart in the correct bin and then picked up a chart of a different patient.

"You're shifts almost over," Kovac stated. "Why don't you go home?"

"Eh, that's alright. I'll pick up another patient before I go," Ray responded.

"Ray, I know what's going on between you and Neela," Kovac began. Of course he knew, Ray thought. Kovac and Abby basically had front row seats to his and Neela's argument. "If you need someone to talk to or…"

"Thanks Luka," Ray said, patting Luka on the back. He did appreciate Luka's sentiments, but Ray wasn't exactly the type to seek out male companionship when he was hurting. He would much rather talk to Neela, if she would talk to him.

"I suggest roses," Morris butted in, walking up behind the two men. He added a chart to the pile.

"I don't think roses can fix my problem," Ray said.

"Then try lilies. Women love lilies," Morris continued.

"I'll keep that in mind, Archie," Ray replied. Morris always had a way of trying to appear useful, but, in most cases, he was more in the way than he was useful. Then again, he had been improving and Ray had come to think of him as more than just a colleague. Morris maybe wasn't 'friend' status yet, but he was getting there.

With a new patient's chart in hand, Ray walked off towards the exam room. He heard her laugh from down the hallway. He would know her laugh anywhere. He knew every facet of her laugh. He knew when she was laughing out of nervousness, out of pure joy, out of ecstasy. He knew every laugh except for the one he was hearing.

Ray stopped dead in his tracks and watched her round the corner and approach. His heart broke when he saw her brush her fingers against Gates' arm, laughing hysterically at whatever it was that he was saying.

"Neela," Ray said, trying to gain her attention with the least amount of anger in his voice as possible. The last thing he wanted to do was to make her angry, even though he was boiling over with anger and jealousy.

"Oh, hi," she said too nonchalantly for Ray, still looking at Tony instead of paying any attention to Ray. Neela hated what she was doing. She could see it in his eyes that he was hurting and yet, she wasn't ready to give up her little game. She was still furious with him even though her heart leapt for him.

"Can we talk?" He asked.

"Tony and I were about to grab dinner," Neela informed him.

"Dinner?" Ray asked, his voice catching in his throat.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow," Neela said.

"See you around," Tony added.

Tony slipped his arm around Neela's shoulder. It took all of Neela's effort not to push him away. She didn't want to be with him and, yet, she did because she knew it was hurting Ray. They began to walk out together.

Ray grabbed Neela's arm and yanked her backwards.

"Neela, don't," he pleaded.

"Let go of me," she insisted.

"Don't go with him," Ray continued.

"You can't tell me what to do," Neela retorted, pulling her arm free from his grasp. She tenderly rubbed the spot he had grabbed. He hadn't actually hurt her, but she pretended as if he had to make him feel even worse.

"I know you are angry with me, but sleeping with him is not the answer."

"He has a name and he is standing right here," Tony said.

"We have reservations," Neela stated.

Ray stood in front of her, blocking her path.

"Neela, please," Ray pleaded. "Don't go with him. If you're not going to do it for me…for what's left of our relationship, do it for yourself. Do it for your self-respect."

"I don't think she wants to hear your opinion," Tony said, taking a step closer to Ray.

"I don't think anyone asked you," Ray quipped.

Ray pushed Tony's shoulder, forcing him to take a step back.

"Don't you ever lay your hands on me," Tony scowled, pushing Ray back.

"And don't try to sleep with my girlfriend," Ray commanded, pushing Tony even harder than the first time.

"I don't think she's your girlfriend anymore," Tony stated.

Ray clenched his jaw and raised his hand. Before he knew it, his fist made contact with Tony's face.

"Ray!" Neela shouted.

Tony reacted quickly, lunging for Ray. The two men fell to the floor. Ray's hand connected to Tony's jaw once more as Tony's fist made its first contact with the side of Ray's face.

"Hey, break it up!" Kovac exclaimed, running over to he scene.

"Stop it!" Neela yelled, attempting to pull Tony off of Ray. Kovac worked on pulling Ray off Tony.

The men scuffled on the floor, throwing punches and trying to pin each other. As Neela reached for Tony's arm, Tony swung at Ray, pushing Neela back. She fell against a chair, her head making contact with the metal side.

"Neela!" Ray cried out, as he watched her fall.

Not noticing that Neela fell, Tony slugged Ray hard across the face. Ray felt the blood pour out of his nose, but he didn't care. His focus was completely on Neela.

Kovac grabbed a hold of Tony and Ray got to his feet. He scrambled to where Neela fell. She was clutching the back of her head in pain.

"Bloody hell," Neela mumbled, looking at her hand. Fortunately, there was no blood.

"Let go of me!" Tony demanded, wriggling free of Kovac's grasp.

Tony went over to Neela. He had a bloodied lip and a bruise that had already begun to form on his cheek, but he appeared to be fairing better than Ray.

"What the hell is going on?" Kovac demanded to know.

"You alright?" Tony asked Neela, ignoring Kovac and lending his hand to her to help her up off the floor.

Ray pushed him aside, and put his hands under Neela's arms, trying to help her up.

"Get off," she grumbled, pushing them both aside and standing up on her own. "You two are acting like babies," she said rubbing her head.

She sat down on the chair that she fell against. Even though there was no blood, she did feel quite dizzy.

"It's alright, Luka," she assured him. He was hovering around her, ready to either look her over and make sure she was alright or grab either Tony or Ray if they decided to go at it again.

Luka nodded and walked back to the admin desk. If it had been anyone else beating each other up in his ER, he would have had more to say about it, but he knew what was going on and he also knew that sometimes, men just had to duke it out, especially when it came to a woman.

"Let me take you home," Tony suggested, again offering her his hand.

"Go home, Tony," Neela replied, angrily.

Trying to make Ray jealous did not exactly work out as she had planned. Sure, he was jealous, but he was also bleeding and her head was beginning to remind her of how it felt that morning.

"What about dinner?" Tony questioned.

"She said go home," Ray repeated, standing up to face Tony. They stared at each other, sizing each other up. The blood still flowed freely from Ray's noise, covering not only his face, but his shirt.

"Your nose is broken," Tony said before walking away.

When Ray turned back to Neela, she was standing. She immediately began to look at Ray's nose as both a doctor and a concerned lover. He, though, was more concerned about her.

"Let's go into an exam room and check you out," she suggested.

She led him into an empty room.

"Sit," she commanded.

"Not until you let me look at your head," he replied.

"My head is fine. Sit."

"Turn around and let me look at your head."

"Ray!" She yelled angrily.

"Neela!" He responded sternly.

She threw her arms in the air, signaling that she was giving in.

"Fine," she huffed.

She turned around and Ray began to push away her soft hair that he loved running his fingers through. In the past two weeks, he missed how that felt.

Ray examined the back of her head longer than was necessary, but he couldn't help touching her.

"I said I'm fine," she stated turning around. She would have stopped the exam sooner if she hadn't been enjoying it so much.

"Well, there's no wound and from your attitude it doesn't look like you have a concussion."

"Yeah, well, maybe I wouldn't have such an attitude if you weren't bleeding all over the place. Now sit."

He finally sat down on the exam bed.

"He's right," Neela said, tenderly touching the bridge of his nose. "It's broken."

"Damn bastard broke my nose," Ray said.

Neela grabbed a towel from a nearby cart and began to wipe the blood away from his face and nose. His brain screamed with pain whenever she even lightly touched his nose, but he didn't make a sound.

"If I recall," Neela began, "you started it."

"I can't believe you were going to sleep with him,"

"It was just dinner, Ray. It was dinner to make you jealous."

When she had cleared most of the blood from Ray's face, Neela wadded up two tissues and stuck them in each nostril of Ray's nose.

"Yeah, well, it worked," he said with a somewhat squeaky voice due to his clogged nose.

"Did you honestly think I would sleep with him?"

"You have before," he scowled.

Without even having to look at her face, he knew that his words hurt her. They hardly ever spoke about her dating Gates before and she preferred it that way. She knew that her actions had hurt Ray in the past, but she never knew just how much he kept that inside.

"Neela…I," he began to apologize.

"How long have you been waiting to say that?" She interrupted.

"I didn't mean to…" he attempted to apologize again.

"No, Ray, no apologies. How long have you wanted to say that to me? How long have you been holding this resentment against me for dating him?"

"I don't want to argue anymore, Neela."

"Then let's not argue. Just be straight with me, Ray."

Ray sighed. This was going to be difficult. Ray hated Gates. That was easy enough to admit. What wasn't so easy was that he was disappointed in Neela for dating him. No, it was more than disappointment. It was a loathing. In some strange way, he loathed Neela for dating him.

"What do you want me to say, Neela? That I hate the fact that you dated him? I hate the fact that you slept with him and that I had to watch it all unfold in front of my eyes. Or should I tell you that I hate the fact that you turned to him instead of me after Michael died? Or maybe I should tell you that I hate myself for being too much of a coward to tell you how I really felt about you and that I really blame myself for this whole messed up thing?"

Neela shook her head.

"You can't blame yourself," she said. "Even if you had told me, Ray, I can't say that I would have fallen into your arms and let you be the one to hold and comfort me."

"But you always said that you knew you loved me even then."

"I did. I did love you even then, but that wasn't enough."

She took a deep breath. She had never told him any of this before. She had never even attempted to explain her relationship with Tony and why she had chosen to be with him after Michael died. She instead brushed Tony off as being a mistake, thinking that she was sparing herself and Ray from some unnecessary heartache.

"After Michael died, I was so…confused and lost. I blamed myself for his death because I wasn't a good wife. There he was in some hell hole fighting for our country while I was back here, lusting over and falling in love with my roommate. I just kept telling myself that if I had been a better wife…if he had a better reason for wanting to come home, maybe he would have made it."

She sniffled and wiped a tear from her cheek. Ray wanted to reach out. He wanted to wipe her tears away for her. He wanted to take her in his arms and tell her that she didn't have to continue. But he had to know. He had to hear the whole story.

"I needed someone after he died, but it couldn't be you. I couldn't trust myself with you and I was so determined to be that good wife even after he was gone and that included not being with the man I had fallen in love with when my husband was away. And you knew me too well. You knew everything about me. You could see when I was hurting when no one else could and I didn't want that. I didn't want anyone to know that I was hurting, but I needed someone. Gates was just…there and he didn't know me. He didn't know that I was slowly dying inside. I needed him to be there for me physically, but I never needed him emotionally. I needed you."

"I would have been here for you."

"I know that. But then you had Katey and…"

"I was just using Katey, Neela. I hate to admit it, and I know that that makes me a terrible person, especially since she was such a good person, but I used her to make you jealous."

"I know. I don't know if I knew it then, but I know it now. And that's exactly what I was trying to do with Tony tonight. Ray, I don't have any feelings for him. I just wanted you to hurt like I was hurting."

Ray pulled one of the tissues from his nose.

"Yeah, well, next time you decide you want to make me jealous, warn me. That way I can take some self defense classes first or something."

Neela smiled.

"I have to ask you something," she said, opening a drawer and grabbing an ice pack. She slammed the ice pack against her hand and shook it until it began to cool. She placed it gently against Ray's nose.

"Okay."

"I just need a one word answer. Nothing more than that."

"One word, I got it."

She took another deep breath and looked down at the floor. She wasn't sure if she could bear to look at him when he gave his answer.

"Did you sleep with Catherine last night?" She asked softly.

"No," he answered without hesitation.

He brought his hand to her chin and lifted her head to look at him.

"No," he repeated. "Neela, I swear…"

"I know," she interrupted. "I believe you. After all, you've never given me a reason not to trust you."

She managed a weak smile and she threw herself at him. He dropped the ice pack he was holding against his nose and he wrapped his arms tightly around her, leaning his chin on her shoulder. She squeezed him back, her head also resting on his shoulder. For the first time in a long time, she didn't feel like crying.

"She was here," Neela reported, disentangling herself from Ray's body. He reached for one of her hands and held it in his. He didn't want to ever let her go.

"What do you mean she was here?"

"She was waiting for me up in the OR. She was telling me that we weren't meant to be together and that you two…had sex last night."

"Did you believe her?"

She shrugged. "I didn't know what to believe, but I do now."

She was quiet and Ray studied her face. He could see the deep lines of worry that remained on her forehead.

"There's something else, isn't there? There's something else that's bothering you." She nodded. "What is it?"

"I told you last night that I could forgive you for the kiss and I could forgive you for not believing me. After all, men can be such wankers sometimes."

"Yes, we can be."

They both smiled weakly.

"But there is something else."

"What?" He prompted.

"You still took her side, Ray, over mine."

"I thought we addressed this last night."

"We did, but I still can't help but think about it, Ray."

"So…you're still upset that I disagreed with you?"

"No. I am not upset that you disagreed with me. I am upset, however, that you didn't even consider our relationship in all of this. You just assumed that I was always going to be there. It's like you didn't have to worry about me because you were too busy worrying about her. I need to know that you're not going to put someone or something over our happiness again."

"Is that what you think I did?"

"I know you didn't do it intentionally, but you did, Ray. And if this relationship is going to work, that can't happen."

"I never meant to put her over you."

"I know."

"I'm not going to promise you that I won't ever again do something equally as stupid because, after all, guys can be wankers." This time she really smiled. "But I can promise you that I will fight for our relationship every day and that I will never stop working to keep it alive. You mean too much to me to let you go."

She leaned against him and kissed him ever so gently so as not to cause him more pain.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"But you have to promise me one thing."

"What's that?"

"That you'll talk to me. If something is bothering you, I want you to tell me. I don't want to wait until we're arguing and at each other's throats. I want to hear about it fist. I want you to communicate with me. Have we got a deal?"

"Deal."

"Now, give this wanker a hug."

This time she let out a little giggle. Ray knew that it was her 'I love you even if you say stupid things' giggle. He slid off the bed, stood up, and she embraced him. He crushed his lips to hers, not caring how badly his nose hurt. He hadn't felt her lips in so long.

"I'm sorry, Neela. I'm sorry for bringing Catherine into our home. I'm sorry that I didn't believe you. I'm sorry that you felt like you weren't good enough. You are everything to me, Neela and I don't deserve you."

She put her finger to his lips. "No more apologies." She kissed him on the cheek. "No more apologies and no more arguing. I just want to be us again."

"I think we can handle that."

He pulled her closer and their lips met yet again.

"I just have one more question," Neela said when their kiss ended.

"What's that?"

"What do we do about Catherine?"

Author's Note:

This was a long, difficult one and yet, another of my favorite chapters to write because I've always wanted to see Gates and Ray get into a physical fight (not that I would want anything to happen to Ray or to his beautiful face). At the same time, though, I rewrote this "make-up" scene at least four or five times (as I've been doing for the last few chapters). I never felt like I got it right and I'm still not sure if it's as good as it could be, but I finally decided that I just need to let it go and post it. I also went back and forth a lot on the issue of Neela being so upset that Ray put Catherine before her. I might have gone a little too far with it and maybe Neela should have just dropped it, but, again, I just decided to go with it and I hope that it doesn't take away from the story and that people understand where she is coming from. Only one more chapter to go!


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

It was nearing midnight when Neela and Ray trudged hand in hand up the steps to their apartment. They were both exhausted. As they got closer to their door and saw light flickering through the crack under the door, they both knew that their night was far from over.

As Ray reached for his keys, the door swung open.

"Ray!" Catherine screeched, throwing herself against him, hugging him. "My God, what happened to your nose?" His nose had begun to bruise, but it had fortunately stopped bleeding.

"I see you brought company," Catherine said, pointing to Neela. "She must be here to pick up her stuff."

Catherine opened the door wider and revealed a number of packed boxes. She had already packed up most of Neela's belongings and had them ready to go.

"She isn't here to pick up her stuff," Ray said.

"You know she isn't welcome in our place anymore," Catherine remarked.

"This isn't our place," Ray stated simply, trying not to raise his voice. He knew that yelling at her wouldn't help the situation. Besides, he had already tried that and it hadn't worked before.

"Oh come on, sweetie, you know that this became our place when you asked me to move in with you." She grabbed Ray's hand and dragged him into the apartment. Ray held tightly onto Neela with his other hand, subsequently dragging her in, too.

"You can leave the trashy whore at the door," Catherine commented.

"I'm not going anywhere, Catherine," Neela responded.

"I planned a romantic dinner, Ray," Catherine said, ignoring Neela.

Catherine was determined that if she couldn't get Neela out, she would just pretend she wasn't there. She was exceptionally good at pretending and she was not about to let anyone ruin the perfect evening that she had planned. This was the evening, she could tell, that Ray would ask her to be his wife and they would be together forever.

She had set everything up perfectly for the occasion. She had gone out and bought silver candlesticks, matching porcelain, and the most expensive bottle of wine she could find for the table. She had spent all day cooking the perfect dinner, which would have been perfect if it had been served at seven o'clock like she had planned, but she wasn't angry with him. She knew he was busy at work saving lives.

The extra time had just given her extra time in front of the mirror. She had agonized for hours over what to wear. In the end, she had settled for a short, tight black dress, one of many in her closet, accompanied by a pearl necklace and matching pearl earrings that she had bought for herself even though she knew she would be able to convince Ray to actually buy them for her along with any other expensive jewelry she wanted. She even visited a lingerie shop to get something extra special for under her dress. Ray was just going to have to wait until after dinner for that surprise.

"It's just for the two of us, like old times," she continued.

"There is no us," Ray stated, squeezing Neela's hand. He placed his arm around her shoulder. "I don't love you, Catherine. What we had together was a long time ago."

"That doesn't mean we can't rekindle our romance. Besides, I never stopped loving you."

"But I stopped loving you," Ray told her. "We're different people now, Catherine. We're not the same teenagers we were back then. And I love Neela."

"No!" Catherine shouted. "You can't love her! You can't love that ugly, no good, slut!"

Neela cringed at the words she was being called. Ray simply held her closer and she felt better.

"I do love her," Ray said calmly. "And you don't love me, Catherine."

"I do!" She wailed.

"No," he replied. "You love what we used to have. You love the fact that, when you're with me, you're not alone anymore, but that's not enough, Catherine."

"It is! Just say what you mean, Ray. Just tell me that you want to marry me and get it over with!"

"I don't want to marry you, Catherine."

"Tell her that you don't love her and just ask me to marry you! I know you want to!" She continued, yelling. "We can do it tonight. We can fly to Vegas and get married tonight. Then she can never come between us."

She took a few steps towards them both. She stumbled on her high heels and fell on her knees. She immediately began to cry. She reached out her hand to Ray to help her up, but he didn't take it.

"I love you, Ray!"

"I don't love you, Catherine. I could never love you."

"Marry me, Ray! Spend the rest of your life with me! I know you want to marry me!" She cried out.

"No, Catherine."

"Ray…" Catherine pleaded, groveling on her knees. She clawed at his legs.

"The only person I want to spend the rest of my life with…the only person I want to marry is Neela!" He shouted, raising his voice for the first time.

Neela immediately looked at him. For as many times as he told her he loved her, he never before told her that he wanted to marry her. Sure, they had joked about it once or twice, but it never got beyond joking. Now, here he was, telling her that he wanted to marry her. Or was he only doing it to get Catherine to understand that he didn't love her? Maybe he didn't want to marry Neela at all and it had just slipped out.

"Catherine," Neela said softly as a mother would do when trying to soothe a whimpering child. She let go of Ray's hand and bent down so that she and Catherine were eye to eye. "You are a beautiful, amazing woman who deserves to find your one true love. I know you think Ray is it for you, but he's not. But I know someone who is."

Catherine wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Who?"

"Joe."

"Joe? My Joe?"

"Your Joe," Neela answered, smiling. "He's right outside."

"Then he does love me!" Catherine exclaimed, jumping up. She clapped her hands excitedly and began to straighten her tousled hair.

"Yes," Neela replied, "he loves you very much, but he thinks you need help, Catherine. We all think you need help."

"Help? Joe doesn't think I need help."

The front door swung open and Joe appeared in the doorway. He was a tall man with a medium build. His suit probably cost more than the monthly rent for Ray and Neela's apartment, but it did make him look stunning. If Neela wasn't still all-consumed with the idea that Ray might potentially want to marry her, she would have said he was attractive. Granted, he was nothing compared to Ray, but she knew she had a bias opinion.

"I do, Catherine," Joe said. His voice was deep and smooth. "I love you, but you need help."

Joe took a few steps into the room and held out his arms. Catherine walked towards him and fell into his arms.

"I'm sorry, Joe," she cried, sobbing. "I'm so sorry."

"I know, baby, I know," he soothed. "We're going to get some help together."

Catherine wiped her face with her hand and turned to Ray.

"I'm sorry, Ray," she apologized sincerely. "I never meant to cause you so much trouble. I'm sorry."

"Come on, Catherine, let's go home," Joe said, leading her out of the room.

Neela quickly closed the door behind them. She leaned against the hard wood and sighed.

"How…who…what just happened?" Ray stuttered, falling onto the couch, more exhausted than he ever thought possible.

"I called Joe."

"You called Joe? Just like that?"

"Well, I knew we were going to have to do something more than just ask her to leave."

Neela walked over to the couch and sat down beside him.

"How did you know she even wanted him back? How did you know she would go get help? How did you even know Joe? Wait. Are you having an affair?"

Neela laughed.

"Oh yeah," Neela joked, snuggling up beside him. "Joe and I meet for our nightly rendezvous at the motel around the corner while you're sleeping."

Ray smiled. "Okay, seriously. How did you…how did you do what you just did?"

"I spent four months interning at a psychiatric hospital in med school. There was this one woman who came to us after she was convicted of burning down her ex-husband's trailer. She was convinced that he was still in love with her and she was so enraged that she set fire to his trailer, thinking that, without somewhere to live, he would want to live with her. Within two hours of her coming to the hospital, she became infatuated with one of the doctors. She thrived on the attention. It wasn't about love at all. She just needed to be with someone. She couldn't stand to be alone."

"What happened to her?"

"Her mood swings were regulated with medication and she got some therapy. In the end, she finally found a man who truly loved her. Last I heard, they got married and had a kid on the way."

"So, she was psychotic until she found someone to love her back?"

"Basically. A lot of Catherine's tendencies reminded me of that patient. So, I called Joe and asked him about Catherine. Come to find out, she has spent some time in a number of psychiatric hospitals across the country, all because of severe attachment issues. She got out of the most recent hospital two years ago with instructions to stay on her medication. Then, she met Joe soon after being released and everything was great for a while and she apparently stopped taking her meds. They moved to Chicago together and things seemed to be fine. They began to plan their entire lives together, but then Catherine began to suspect that Joe was cheating on her. So, she became jealous and angry and started to go a little crazy. She didn't break her wrist falling down the courtroom steps. She broke her wrist trying to punch the daylights out of Joe. And she didn't get a leave of absence from her job. She was fired for incompetence after she let this whole Joe thing take over her whole life. Then, still off her meds, she ran into you and you became her next target. She used you to fill the void in her life that Joe left."

"And how do you know all this?"

"I told you, I called Joe."

"Yeah…okay, care to run that one by me?"

"I remembered she mentioned him once or twice in conversation. So, one night, I snuck into her room and got his number."

"You little snoop."

"I didn't use it until today when I realized that you were right."

"Right? What was I right about?"

"Catherine wasn't in love with you. She thought she was because she couldn't stand to be alone, but she wasn't really in love with you. And she wasn't trying to pull us apart just for the hell of it. She has a problem, Ray. When I called Joe, he told me the whole story. He was completely torn up over the whole thing. He claimed that he never cheated and that he still loved her and wanted to help her. So, I asked him to come over. I just can't believe neither of us picked up on her problems. I mean, looking back, it just seems so obvious. There was way more going on than just a girl who was obsessed with her ex-boyfriend."

"Are you saying that I once dated a psycho?"

"Well, she probably wasn't psycho back then," Neela joked, cuddling even closer to him. He draped his arm around her shoulder. "But, in short, yes, you did once date a psycho."

Ray playfully hit her in the ribs.

"Do you really think she'll leave us alone?" Ray asked.

"If she gets the treatment she needs and she has Joe to support her, yeah, I think she'll leave us alone. After all, it was never about us to begin with."

"You are amazing," Ray said, kissing her on the top of her head. "I just can't believe it's over."

"Believe it," Neela assured her.

She yawned.

"We should get some sleep," Ray suggested.

He stood up and offered his hand to her. He helped her up and he led the way to their bedroom.

As they neared the doorway, Neela stopped.

"Ray."

Ray turned around.

"Yeah?"

"What you said tonight…what you said to Catherine about…marriage. Did you mean it?"

"That I didn't want to marry her? Of course I meant it."

Neela looked down at the ground in disappointment. Of course Ray had said he wanted to marry Neela out of anger and trying to get Catherine to listen to him and not out of love. He hadn't meant it.

"Never mind."

She began to walk into the bedroom, but Ray held onto her arm, stopping her. He kneew exactly what she meant.

"Are you asking me if I meant it when I said that you were the one person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with? That you are the one person I want to marry?"

Neela looked up at him with a hopeful look in her eye. He smiled.

"Yes, Neela, I meant it when I said I wanted to marry you."

Ray reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, black box. He got down on one knee and held the box out to her.

She gasped. She was excited when he mentioned wanting to marry her, but she never expected him to get down on one knee and propose.

"I've been carrying this box around for more than two months. I've been carrying it with me everyday and I've had with me everywhere I go, but the timing was never right. I wanted this to be perfect. And I'm sorry because tonight isn't my idea of perfect. Hell, I'm proposing when my nose is five times its normal size, but I can't wait any longer."

He reached for Neela's hand as a tear rolled down her cheek. This time, though, it was a tear of joy.

"I love you, Neela. I could never express to you how much I love you. And I promise you that I will always be true to you, that I will love you until the day I die and, even then, I'll come back to haunt you because I can't be without you. I know that now more than ever. Would you do me the honor of being my wife?"

Ray opened the box and Neela gasped for a second time. The ring was a simple solitaire, but it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

"Yes," she said without skipping a beat.

"Yes?"

"Yes!"

He jumped up, cupped her cheek with his hand, and their lips met in a passionate fury. Somewhere in the middle of it all, Ray managed to slip the ring on her finger.

"I love you," she whispered against his lips.

"I love you," he replied.

"And you're wrong," she said, "that proposal was perfect."

They stood together, his arms around her waist and her arms looped around his neck. Their foreheads touched and Neela couldn't help but look over Ray's shoulder to see the shining ring that now graced her finger.

"I'm suddenly not so tired," Ray commented.

Neela smiled. "Neither am I."

"You still have that nurses costume handy?"

"I threw it away," Neela reminded him.

"That's too bad," Ray whispered as his lips met hers again.

"But I know where there are more," she said softly back between kisses.

She jumped up, wrapping her legs around his waist. Her force backed him against the wall. Their lips never separated.

Somehow, Ray managed to stumble into the bedroom. They both fell onto the bed, never breaking their kiss.

"I am so lucky to have you," he said as she placed tender kisses around his sore nose.

"Ditto," she replied as she captured his mouth with hers.

Author's Note: Wow, the end. Sorry this is going to be a long author's note. In case you don't want to read the whole thing, I'll start with the important stuff – thank you so much to everyone who read this story and gave me such amazing comments. I don't normally respond to every person's individual comment, but I do read every single word you guys write and I appreciate them so much. I wouldn't keep writing if it weren't for all of you. Also, thank you to Dr. Quinn for inspiring me and giving me the idea and the character's name for this story.

Okay, now for the not so important stuff – even though I had said earlier that I hadn't expected this story to be so long, I hadn't expected to really end it with this chapter. I honestly thought I'd keep going for at least another one or two and then have some sort of epilogue (in case you couldn't tell, I have a hard time ending stories), but this seemed to be as good a place as any to stop, so I did. I spent a bit of time rewriting this chapter and trying to figure out exactly how to end the story and I just hope it didn't disappoint.

And, on another note, this story was such a fun journey to take because writing it even surprised me sometimes. This was a story that I hadn't planned out as much as I had for my other stories (I'm quite the planner and organizer) so it was an adventure. Sometimes I felt like I was reading this story as I went instead of writing it if that makes any sense. Anyway, this was a fun, long journey that I can't wait to take again with another story so be on the lookout!


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